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ESSAYS 
POFf JLAR EDUCATION, 



CONTAINING A 



PARTICULAR EXAMINATION 






SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 



AN OUTLINE 



INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. 

i. JJ. -M(X)UB 



BY JAMES G. CARTER. 



liOWLES & DEARBORN....N0. 72 WASHINGTON-ST. 



BUTTON AND AVENTWORTII PRINTERS. 

I82r.. 



• . ■. V 






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ADVERTISEMENT. 



Oefore the publication of " Letters on the Free Schools of New 
England," in the autumn of 1824, it formed a part of the original 
design of the author to pursue the subject in a series of papers of a 
more popular character. Accordingly, duringthewinterof 18'24-5, the 
following Essays were pubhshed in nnmbersinthe " Boston Patriot" 
with the signature of" Franklin." Apart from the great faults in the 
government and instruction of the common schools, arising chiefly 
from the ignorance and inexperience of the teachers employed in them, 
many intelhgent and patriotic citizens had come to regard with deep 
regret the course of legislation, in this state, upon the subject of popu- 
lar education generally. The free schools, strange as it may seem, 
had received almost no legislative attention, protection, or bounty, 
for nearly forty years. Of course, instead of taking the lead in im- 
provement, as they should have done, they remained as nearly sta- 
tionary, as any institution can remain, in such an age and such a state 
of society, as those in which we live. Some men of longer foresight, 
and many, whose interest in the subject, was quickened by their 
having families to educate, saw and lamented this state of things ; 
but as it was less trouble, on the whole, to build up schools of their 
own, than to reform those already in existence, they sent in their pe- 
titions to the Legislature in great profusion for acts of incorporation, 
and for pecuniary assistance to enable them to establish Academies 
under their own direction. These petitions were usually granted ; 
and donations, small ones to be sure, were made to further their ob- 
jects. But tlie obvious tendency of this course of legislation was to 
help directly those citizens who least needed help, and to encourage 
precisely that class of schools, which, if they were necessary, would 
spring up spontaneously without the aid of legislative bounty. 

Within a few years, even these higher schools, from their unwieldy 
organization, have ceased to afford such instruction as the public 
require ; and private establishments begin now to take the lead of 
them. Thus have we departed more and more widely from the princi 
pie assumed by our fathers in the establishment of the Free School.^, 
viz. to provide as good instruction in all elementary and common 



IV 

branches of knowledge tor the poorest citizen in the coaniionweahh, 
as the richest could buy with all his wealth. Advancenient upon ad- 
vancement has been made by a few, while the mass, who are less vigi- 
lant remain as tliey were, with only the unconsoling advantage of a 
little reflected light sent back by those, who have gone before them. 

It was the main object of these essays to expose the pernicious 
tendency of the above pohcy in the provisions for popular education, 
in a political point of view ; and in pursuance of that object, the 
author strove to fix the public attention upon those parts of the sys- 
tem, which seemed, most imperiously, to demand reform. Among 
the most glaring defects, w=^hich long experience and pretty wide ob- 
servation had ])ointed out in the schools, was, the incompetency of 
the teachers. And among the most obvious means of remedying 
this capital defect, was, the establishment of an institution for the ed- 
ucation and direct preparation of those teachers for their difficult and 
important employment. An outline was, therefore, thrown out to- 
wards the close of these essays, of an institution for such a purpose. 
Though no legislative steps have yet been taken to carry this or any 
similar plan into effect, the necessity of something of tlic kind is so 
obvious, and the design has found so great favour with the public, 
that an institution is about to be establisjied for the purpose on pri- 
vate responsibility, with such aid and encouragement from the legis- 
lature, as they may be pleased to bestow. Matm-er reflection, and 
the changing the institution from a public to a private seminary, 
will of course suggest and require some modifications in the plan 
but the essential features must remain the same as here stated. 

In regard to these essays, it seems but justice to observe, that, 
although the facts and general course of reasoning contamed in 
them were the result of previous research and reflection, they were 
written out from loose materials, most of them, from day to day as 
they were printed, without the thought at that time of their ever ap- 
pearing in another form. They can, therefore, have no pretension to 
literary merit. But the subject of them has since become so much a 
topic of public interest and discussion, that it has frequently, and from 
different quarters, been suggested to the author, that if collected and 
put in a form more convenient and accessible, they might still further 
promote the cause, which they were originally designed to subserve. 
With the flattering hope that this may be in some degree the case, 
they have been subjected to a very hasty revision, and are now offered 
to the public in a pamphlet form. The author will not regret his la- 
bour, if they win but a few more friends to tlie cause of popular 
education. 

Boston,'aSth October, 1826 



ESSAY I. 



EXTENT OF THE SUBJECT. 



The education of youth has excited, within tiiese i'ew 
years, particularly in our own country, an unusual degree 
of interest ; yet, not so much as its importance demands. 
It has engaged the attention of some discriminating minds, 
and enlisted the feelings of some ardent hearts ; yet, these, 
too, are much fewer than the pu])lic good requires. In ap- 
proaching a subject so comprehensive in its details as that 
of education, it cannot be expected, that I should be zeal- 
ous and rash enough to attempt, here, a very minute dis- 
cussion of it. Especially, when the zeal and ardour, which 
the importance of the subject naturally inspires, are con- 
stantly allayed by the doubts, which hang around and ap- 
prize me, that all my efforts may result in no good either 
to myself or the public. It is a hope of some successful 
influence, far enough from assurance, which encourages 
me to discuss, briefly, a few only of the topics connected 
with, and involved in it. This it will be my endeavour to 
do plainly. I shall confine my remarks, more particularly, 
to political views of the subject, and enforce the conside- 
ration of them, more strongly, from political motives. 1 
shall state some facts connected with our system of Free 
Schools, which I think are not so generally known, or 
whose importance is not so deeply felt as they ought to be. 
And if I should find it necessary to point out a few faults 
and defects in their organization, and also in the appropri- 
ations of money for their support, it will not be with the 
intention of impeaching the motives, or undervaluing the 
efforts of those, who have laboured, however unsuccessful- 
ly, to perfect the system, and bring from it the greatest 
public good. But, if upon careful examination, defects 



6 

shall be found to exist, and abuses be detected ; it is cer- 
tainly desirable, that the former should be, forthwith, sup- 
plied, and the latter corrected. I have not, however, even 
in my own mind, reduced to such system, my ideas on the 
subject of discussion, as to justify a more explicit state- 
ment of what I propose to do. I must, therefore, leave my 
subsequent essays to explain their own meaning and ob- 
jects ; feeling perfectly assured that, if they cannot do that, 
they will be of but little use. 

The influence of education on our character and happi- 
ness is not duly estimated, even by those, who seem to pay 
most attention to it. The meaning of the term, even, in 
its general acceptation, is much too narrow. It is thought 
to comprehend a little instruction in the art of talking, 
and reading over words, without any definite ideas attach- 
ed to them — a few moral lessons in the form of maxims, 
which are not understood, or arc constantly contradicted 
by every example — and all enforced by the salutary discip- 
line of the rod, agreeably to the injunction of the " Wisest 
Man ;" who, with reverence be it spoken, made many wiser 
maxims, than " spare the rod and spoil the child." Edu- 
cation means more than this. It embraces all that series 
of means, by which the human understanding is gradually 
enlightened, and the dispositions of the heart are formed 
and called forth, between earliest infoncy and the period, 
when we consider ourselves as qualified to take a part in 
active life. Though a consistent system fully developed, 
with constant reference to the above definition, and tho- 
roughly carried into practice, would be a great improve- 
ment on all systems of education, wliich have hitherto pre- 
vailed ; yet that definition would be much better if it 
were more general still. It should embrace the develope- 
ment of the powers of our bodies. This is as much a 
branch of education, as the intellectual and moral devel- 
opement of our heads and hearts. In fact, all that a man 
is when grown to maturity, more than he is ai his birth, is 
the result of education in its widest sense. 

All its branches, in this general acceptation of the term, 
are not equally within the reach of means, or subject to 
our control, even when those means are applied with the 
utmost human skill. The powers of the body, for instance, 
will be, in some good degree, developed by the natural 
course of things, without any direct efforts of our own. 



with reference to them. This circumstance is, perhaps, 
one reason why this branch of education has been hitherto 
neglected entirely, or never considered a part of it. Our 
animal wants oblige us to make some use of our limbs, 
whether we are willing or unwilling, in order to supply 
those wants. And this necessary exercise of the powers 
of our bodies, develops them, and constitutes all the edu- 
cation, we have in one branch of the great subject. But 
though the natural course of things, does more for our 
education in this respect, than in any other, it is still ap- 
prehended, that human means may be applied to this part 
of education with a most happy effect. In the application 
of our means, however, nature must not be contradicted in 
her operations ; but followed and aided. With a thorough 
knowledge of the physiology of our bodies, occasions and 
opportunities may be arranged and presented for calling 
into exercise all the various functions of the different parts, 
without contradicting or forcing nature. But such a course 
of discipline must be of incalculable utility in strengthen- 
ing the power and quickening the energy of those parts of 
the body, which are seldom, in the ordinary avocations of 
life, called into action. The remark applies with pecu- 
liar pertinency to those, who are destined from their cradle 
to the life and sedentary habits of a student. Placed by 
circumstances, they can hardly be called favorable circum- 
stances, above the necessity of bodily exertions, they usu- 
ally grow up a puny race, liable to be completely discom- 
posed by every flake of snow and flaw of wind, which as- 
sails them. The evils of such a defective education are 
not learned till it is too late to apply a remedy. The ha- 
bits of the body are formed, and cannot be changed with- 
out violence to what has now become nature. And the 
hold on life, of some of our most valuable men, is rendered 
so feeble that it is to them, hardly worth possessing. One 
would think it was a law of nature, that the powers of the 
body must decline, precisely as those of the mind ad- 
vance, till the unfortunate student finds himself all spiritu- 
alized before his time. So much has this come to be the 
fashion in our times, that it would be considered evidence 
of great intellectual attainments to be occasionally sick of 
dyspepsia, and to require now and then a journey or a tour 
in Europe for the recovery of the health. And it would 
be no less an evidence of stupidity and downright vul- 



rr. ^ 



8 

garity to be able to look a north-west wind in the face, to 
toss a " fifty-six" in the air, and leap a five-barred gate. It 
is submitted to an intelligent and reflecting community, 
whether there be any thing inconsistent in the development 
of the powers of the body, in connexion with the men- 
tal and moral discipline, which have hitherto made up the 
whole definition of education ; and whether some improve- 
ment may not be made in our systems of education, which 
shall make us physically stronger as well as intellectually 
wiser. 

But M"ho shall reform the theory and the practice of our 
discipline for the young, so as to make its influence the 
greatest and the best upon individuals and uj)on the pub- 
lic ? All. Every member of the community. For every 
one has a common and almost an equal interest in the result. 
The older are the natural guardians of the younger. Upon 
the former, therefore, devolves the responsibility of the edu- 
cation of the latter. Itisbytheircare, that we are enabled to 
survive the helplessness of infancy. It is by their larger 
experience, that we are taught to moderate, or supply for 
ourselves, the wants of childhood. It is by their aftec- 
tionate counsels, by their uniform and consistent examples 
of kindness and justice, of piety and devotion, we are won 
to the cause of truth and virtue. In a word, it is by the 
influence of all these, their care, their experience, their 
counsel, and their example, that the young are allured from 
one degree of moral and intellectual excellence to another, 
till they approach the highest dignity of human nature. 
Or it is by their neglect and indift'erence that the young- 
are suffered ; and by their pernicious example, they are 
taught, to grow up in ignorance and vice, distinguished 
from the brutes, only, by the atrocity and malignity of their 
crimes. 

I have said that the older are the natural guardians 
of the younger. This relation subsists generally, and is 
independent of the forms and organization of civil society. 
And by virtue of it, we are bound to lend the influence ol' 
our example ; and, as far as is consistent with other duties, 
to afford the light of our experience to warn them of ap- 
proaching danger, to apprize them of happiness within 
their reach ; and, by all the means in our power, to prepare 
them to discharge, faithfully and successfully, similar duties 
to those, who mav come after them, and be in like manner 



9 

dependent upon them. This obhgation, though a general 
one, is nevertheless a strong one. The duty it imposes is the 
dictate of natural and unsophisticated feeling; and it results 
directly from its obvious tendency to produce the greatest 
degree of individual and public happiness. But, assuming 
it to be granted, for it must be granted, that all, who have 
arrived at greater maturity, and made larger attainments, 
in what it concerns men most to know, are morally obliged 
to do something for the benefit of the less experienced, 
how will this obligation affect our own actions and practice i^ 
As the obligation rests upon all, and exists prior to, and in- 
dependently of, any of the nearer relations, in which we 
may be placed to the young ; it must necessarily be so gen- 
eral and indeterminate, as sometimes to admit a doubt of 
its applicability to our particular case. And under doubt- 
ful circumstances, and such will always exist, <»r be easily 
created, we shall be quite likely to explain the obligation, 
so as in a pretty good degree, to suit our own selfish and 
short-sighted convenience. Fortunately for our happiness, 
as well as for that of those who must be guided by our 
experience, we are not left with so vague a rule for the 
discharge of our obligations in this respect. The duty is 
of the highest importance, involving in itself both tempo- 
ral and eternal consequences ; the obligation is strong, and 
the rule explicit. If we faulter in the discharge of that 
duty, either through perversity or indifi'erence, the respon- 
sibility, is surely and entirely our own. 

Laws, where laws exist upon the subject, custom, and 
the forms of civil society, have subdivided the labour of 
instructing the young ; and narrowed the sphere of indi- 
vidual responsibility almost to a point under our immedi- 
ate inspection. None can, here, plead in mitigation of 
their neglect of or indifference to the subject, ignorance of 
where their duty lies, or who are the peculiar objects of it. 
Though, perhaps, many acknowledging the duty, seeing 
the objects of it, and being resolved to do every thing in 
their power to discharge it, may be ignorant of what it 
consists in. But when we have circumscribed the spiiere 
of our responsibilities to the young, and brought them under 
our own eyes ; when we clearly comprehend what we wish, 
or what we may expect to accomplish by our eflbrts ; it will 
then be seasonable to investigate or invent the means to 
be used for giving to our exertions their greatest efficacy. 



^rr. 



ESSAY II. 



INFLUENCE OF EARLY EDUCATION, 



The earliest years of infancy are committed to maternal 
tenderness by indications which can hardly be mistaken. 
No mother who knows that her children require the par- 
ticular care and protection of any one, can doubt that the 
first stages of that care devolve, principally, upon her ; 
though many who acknowledge the duty, and are devoted 
to the discharge of it, may not know the best means of ac- 
complishing their object. Timid in adopting any systema- 
tic course of early education lest it should be wrong, and 
anxious to do something lest their children should suffer 
from their neglect, they commonly adopt and revoke, trace 
and retrace, do and undo ; till, amidst all these contradic- 
tions and conflicting principles, the whole period of life, 
^vhich is committed almost exclusively to their care, is 
wasted in doing nothing effectually. Yet, however inef- 
ficient this fluctuating and often entirely wrong course of 
discipline may be, the infancy and childhood of compara- 
tively few of any generation are blessed \vith even mater- 
nal solicitude as to their education. By far the greater 
part of the children of every age and of almost every na- 
tion grow up without any instruction from their parents, 
except a little aid in the development of such instincts as 
serve to preserve their existence. Their whole education, 
if it may be called by that name, is drawn from parental 
examples, which are not always the best, and are often- 
times the most corrupt ; and derived from the influence of 
surrounding society, which, all will acknowledge, contains 
abundantly enough of depravity to corrupt the propensi- 
ties and pervert the tender principles of a child. The 
character of each generation, whatever it may be, is thus 



11 

entailed with but slight modifications, upon its successor. 
And human reason and discretion have but little to do 
about it. All the appetites and passions, which we possess 
in common with the other animals, come into exercise with- 
out our efforts, and often in spite of them. While reason and 
the class of powers, which form man's distinguishing attri- 
butes, are developed but slowly and with the greatest care. 
The former, moreover, arrive at full maturity and strength, 
long before we can raise up the counteracting power of 
the latter to direct and control them. What wonder, then, 
that mankind make slow progress in improvement, when 
the current of strong influences sets so steadily against 
them ! 

But the state of society, in which we happen to live, is, 
perhaps, as favourably constituted as any on earth, for de- 
riving the full advantage from a judicious well directed 
system of domestic education. For almost all have intel- 
ligence enough to understand its influence on the future 
character of children, and wisdom enough to appreciate 
its importance to them. Few, too, are here so depressed 
with poverty and want as not to have some opportunities 
to be improved for this purpose. And comparatively few 
have yet run so wild in dissipation and pleasure — that other 
barbarism — as not to leave some interstices of time for re- 
flection upon a subject ; which, one would suppose, must 
be more important to them than any other. Systems of 
domestic education, however, can only be improved by an 
enlightened public opinion, and well informed heads of 
families devoted to the subject. To them, particularly to 
the mother, pertain the duty and the privilege of conduct- 
ing the first stages of the education of their family. And both 
the Church and the State, in modern times, must be con- 
tent to leave their future pillars in these hands. 

Neither lawgivers, nor the forms of civil society have of- 
ten interrupted what seems to be so plain a law of nature, 
instances are to be found, indeed, far back in the history 
of the world, of a violation of it. But they are found 
in ages, and amidst institutions, in other respects, very 
different from our own. The Persian women, for example, 
were so far awed by power or influenced by the institu- 
tions and customs of their country, as to yield their child- 
ren at a very early age, to the care of the public schools 
provided for their education. It was not merely to give 



/,. 



them up, for a lew hours in a day, to the care of instruct- 
crs appointed by themselves and subject to their direction 
and control. But they were no longer the children of their 
mothers. The state or the public adopted them, and as- 
sumed the whole business of their future instruction. The 
institutions of the Persians, for early education were ex- 
ceedingly simple in their organization, and perfectly adapt- 
ed, as all institutions for similar purposes should be, to the 
object, for which they are intended. They seem to have 
been formed, too, under a strong conviction of the influ- 
ence of early discipline. And they were so conducted as 
to prepare the children and youth for a faithful and suc- 
cessful discharge of the duties, which would devolve upon 
them in the capacity of men. In one respect, certainly, 
if no more, hints may be derived from them, useful even 
to more modern and enlightened ages. I allude to the at- 
tention which they paid to the developement of the physi- 
cal as well as of the intellectual and moral powers. As a 
great part of the lives of the men were employed in war, in 
repelling the aggressions of their neighbours, and in mak- 
ing aggressions upon them ; so a great part of their child- 
hood and youth was taken up in athletic exercises or 
the appropriate discipline of their bodies Of course, 
where the influence of early education is in any degree, 
understood, the discipline of the young will have a refer- 
ence, to what they are to practice when older. And in 
those states of society, where muscular force and agility 
constitute the principal accomplishments of age, they will 
be inculcated with the greatest assiduity upon youth. 

But of all the ancient lawgivers, Lycurgus seems most 
thoroughly to have understood the influence of early edu- 
cation. And he most successfully turned its influence to 
account in accomplishing his designs. " What he thought 
most conducive to the virtue and happiness of a city," says 
his biographer, " was, principles interwoven with the man- 
ners and breeding of the people. These would remain im- 
moveable,as founded in inclination, and be the strongest and 
most lasting tie ; and the habits, which education produced 
in youth, would answer in each the purpose of a lawgiver. 
As for smaller matters, contracts about property, and what- 
G\'er occasionally varied, it was better not to reduce these 
to a written form and unalterable method, but to suffer 
them to change with the times, and to admit of additions 



13 

01- retrenchments at the pleasure of persons so well edur 
cated. For he resolved the whole business of lio'is/ation into 
the bringing up of youth.'' The Spartan children, therefore, 
Were not under tutors, purchased or hired with money, nor 
were the parents at liberty to educate them as they pleased 5 
but as soon as they were seven years old, Lycurgus order- 
ed them to be enrolled in companies, where they were 
all kept under the same order and discipline, and had their 
exercises and recreations in common. He, who showed 
the most conduct and courage amongst them, was made 
captain of the company, the rest kept their eyes on him, 
obeyed his orders, and bore, with patience, the punish- 
ments he inflicted ; so that their whole education was an 
exercise of obedience. The old men were present at their 
diversions, and often suggested some occasions of dispute 
or quarrel, that they might observe with exactness, the 
spirit of each, and their fimness in battle. 

From this brief account of the institutions of Lycurgus 
for the education of youth it will be seen, that it " was not 
so much his object to give a knowledge of a great variety 
of things, as to form the passions, sentiments, and ideas, 
to that tone which might best assimilate with the constitu- 
tions of the state; and so to exercise the abilities of both 
body and mind, as to lead them to the highest possible ca- 
pacity for the performance of every thing useful ; particu- 
larly of every thing useful to the commonwealth."* By 
the wisdom and energy of such a policy, he in a few years, 
completely transformed the manners, customs, and charac- 
ters of the Spartans. From an indolent, luxurious and de- 
bauched people, he rendered them active, temperate and 
virtuous, according to his ideas of those terms. So firmly, 
too, had he established his institutions, and so intimately 
had he blended their principles with the very characters 
and nature of his people, by his system of education ; that, 
by their own strength, they sustained themselves in healtliy 
and vigorous action, for nearly five hundred years, after his 
death. But " the beautiful pile of justice reared by the 
pious Numa," says Plutarch, " presently fell to the ground, 
being without the cement of education. For Numa left 
it to the option or convenience of parents, to bring up 
their sons to agriculture, to ship-building, to the business 

*Mitfordv 



14 

of a brazier, or the art of musician ; as if it were not ne- 
cessary for one design to run through the education of 
them all, and for each individual to have the same bias 
given him ; but as if they were all like passengers in a 
ship, who coming, each from a dift'erent employment and 
with a difl'erent intent, stand upon their common defence 
in time of danger, merely out of fear for themselves, or 
their property, and on other occasions are attentive only 
to their private ends." 

Fisher Ames, indeed, in his essays upon the institutions, 
of Lycurgus supposes that the number, who received their 
education in the public schools, above described, consti- 
tuted but a very small part of the whole Spartan youth, 
and that the rest went at large, like the youth of the other 
Grecian States with almost no instruction at all But 
whether this theory be true or false is not important to my 
present purpose to determine. 

No one, I think, who has examined those institutions, in 
connexion with the history of Sparta and the other cotem- 
porary Grecian states, can doubt, that, it was by controlling 
more perfectly the education of the youth, some or all of 
them, he gave to her the distinctive national character, 
which she preserved for so long a time after him. Whether 
the Spartan or the Athenian character was the most per- 
fect according to our notions of the perfection of national 
character, is quite another question. The Spartan Law- 
giver made his nation what he wished it to be. He desir- 
ed age to be respected at Sparta. He taught the youth 
this virtue ; and age was respected there. He wished to 
banish luxury. He taught the youth to despise it ; and 
luxury was unknown in Sparta. He wished to correct ef- 
feminacy. He taught the youth to value themselves for 
something else, to emulate each other in acts of hardship; 
and who could endure suffering like the Lacedemonians ? 

This overwhelming influence upon the character of a 
people, was not acquired and exercised, by giving to the 
young, now and then, a moral lecture upon the respect due 
to age, upon " the uselessness of luxury," or " the advant- 
ages" of a healthy constitution ;" while all these good max- 
ims were constantly contradicted, and their influence coun- 
teracted by every thing seen, and heard, and felt in the 
examples of those about them. The young were taught 
by all they saw to practice the virtues of the age, with- 



15 

out being able to talk of their moral excellence, and 
perhaps without even knowing them by a name. Man was 
then imitative ; and he is now imitative. He will, there- 
fore, copy what he sees in the examples of others much 
sooner, than he will practice what he hears in their pre- 
cepts. The abstract standard of excellence, too, with the 
ancients, was not so far removed from the concrete stand- 
ard exhibited in the conduct of men, as it is in modern 
times ; and, of course, the moral lessons founded upon, and 
drawn from that standard, were not so liable to be totally 
wasted, as similar ones are at the present day. Every 
thing around, which could be seized upon by the youthful 
mind as an example, was then in more perfect keeping, 
with what was taught them by precept. This circumstance 
will account, in some degree, for the greater influence, 
which the attention bestowed upon the education of the 
young seemed then to have, than the same attention seems 
now to have. I'he Spartan Lawgiver influenced his peo- 
ple by means of early education, more than his cotempo- 
raries, only, because he controlled more perfectly all the 
associations of childhood and youth. He, and he alone, 
seemed thoroughly to understand, and skilfully to turn to 
his use, that principle of our nature, which has since been 
so happily described by Dugald Stewart. " Whoever" says 
he, " has the regulation of the associations of another, 
from earliest infancy, is, to a great degree, the arbiter of 
his happiness." 

But the associations of the young, in a country, like our 
own, cannot be so readily controlled as they could be with 
the ancients. What could with them be affected by the 
decree of a Lawgiver, must now be done by the slower, 
though not less powerful influence of public opinion. 
Where each individual constitutes a part of the sovereignty 
of the State, each one must of course be addressed, di- 
rectly or indirectly, and convinced of the utility of pub- 
lic measures for improvement. WHien all this has been 
done, steps are taken aftecting the interests of society, 
with as great firmness, and with as rational a hope of suc- 
cess, as if the process of making up the sovereign will were 
more summary. 

I have referred to these instances of attention paid to 
early education among the ancients, not because I suppose 
that their institutions are at all suited to our times, or fit 



16 

to be adopted in our state of society ; but in order to show 
by history and example — the safest teachers of human wis- 
dom — the influence of early education, in a political point 
of view. Human nature, it is presumed, is not essentially 
changed since the empire of the Persians or the days of 
Lycurgus. And if the Spartan could mould and transform 
a nation to suit his own taste, by means of early education, 
why may not the same be done at the present day ? The 
children of modern times are as helpless and as ignorant 
at birth as were the chddren of Sparta. If they have dif- 
ferent characters when men, education has made them so. 
And it may make another generation as different from the 
present, as the present one is from the cruel though heroic 
Spartans. The silence of history upon the subject, leaves 
us to infer that they had five senses ; and we, of a more en- 
lightened age, have no more. The wide diversity in our 
characters, therefore, has been produced, by what those 
senses have let into our minds and hearts, and the various 
modifications of it, which ditlerentcircumstanceshave made. 
The education which we receive from the society in 
which we live, is partly beyond, and partly within our own 
control. The influence of it is much more important to us, 
than we commonly suppose. Indeed it makes up far the 
greater part of our characters in manhood. We begin to 
teel its power at birth, and continue to feel it till death. 
How, think you, would a christian teacher succeed in mak- 
ing a good christian character of a pupil, if that pupil were 
surrounded from its cradle by JMussulmen only, and saw 
and heard nothing, but what came from them, save the so- 
litary lectures of his instructor.'* This view of the subject 
will enable us, in some degree, to estimate the extent of 
the influence of the education of example. Precepts nev- 
er can, essentially, counteract the influence of examples ; 
but the latter may and often do, as our daily observations 
teach us, counteract the influence of the former. It is not 
the instructions of the mother, though she next has the 
greatest influence, it is not the maxims of the school- 
inaster, though he were as wise as Socrates, it is not the 
sermons and the exhortations of tlie pious minister, though 
he were a perfect saint, which form the character of the 
man in any country or in any age. The examples of the so- 
ciety, in which he grows up, these form his character, and 
make him what he is when matured in manhood. 



17 

If then it is by the power of the examples which we 
see, more than by the influence of any and of all other 
means together, that our characters are what they are in 
manhood ; if it depends upon these, whether we become 
Pagan, Mahometan, or Christian ; if it depends upon these, 
whether we grow up men of principle, or men without 
principle ; men discharging all our duties to God, our 
neighbour, and ourselves, or men neglecting and despising 
them all ; it would seem to be a matter of some conse- 
quence that the subject have a little consideration in this 
aspect of it. It ought to arrest the attention of every man, 
who is interested in the happiness of his fellow men, of 
every one who is interested in the character, condition, and 
prospects of his country, and above all, of every parent, 
who is interested in the formation of that character of his 
children, which is to abide by them here, and upon which 
depends their destiny hereafter. 

Although we cannot control the examples which may 
be set before us, we may in a great degree, control those, 
which v^e set before others, who will never fail to follow 
them. And, if my readers will indulge me in a little more 
preaching, there is no responsibility, which rests upon us, 
as parents loving our children, as patriots loving our 
country, as philanthropists loving mankind, or as ration- 
al and immortal beings adoring our Creator, more solemn 
to us or important to society, than that of yielding our in- 
fluence, whatever it may be, for the improvement and the 
advancement of the rising generation. Let the path of 
virtue be cleared of the asperities with which the ignor- 
ance and the wiles of men have obstructed it, and let it be 
illumined by the bright and steady example of all, whom 
children from their infancy most love and respect; and 
there need be no fear but it will be followed by many, who 
are now allured or driven from it. Though parents may 
look with occasional concern upon the gambols of their 
little ones by the side of the way, they may be assured 
that they will always be within call. And when the exu- 
berance of their life and spirits have subsided and less 
embarrassed reason succeeds, they will be ready to take 
up the undeviating course of their fathers and turn as 
anxious an eye upon those who may come after them. 

But he who has corrupted one youth whose examples 
\yill again corrupt otJier vouths and so forward, the mora! 
3 



18 

Uiint s|>ieadiiig wider and wider at each remove from its 
original source, while society continues its organization, 
has inflicted an evil on an individual, which he can never 
repair; he has injured society in a manner, which he can 
never hope to remedy, though he should set over against 
it a whole life of good instructions ; he has fixed a deep 
stain upon the character of the community, which he can 
never wipe out ; and he has destroyed, as far as his influ- 
ence could destroy, capacities for happiness, which ema- 
nate only from the goodness of God. 

If such then be the influence of the state of society, in 
which we grow up, on our characters; and if such will be 
that of the society, which we constitute and must transmit 
to posterity, on their characters ; it is important, that 
those, who contribute more than others to give a form to 
that society, whose larger acquirements and stronger 
powers, whether of good or evil, go far to stamp with glory 
or with infamy the character of their age, should consider 
well, whether they do not counteract, by the instruction 
of their example, what they take so much pains to incul- 
cate, by their precepts. And if they do, though they 
should cheat posterity into a belief that they have been 
their greatest benefactors, they may rest assured that they 
have entailed upon them their greatest curses. 



ESSAY III. 



EXAMINATION OF THE SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Enough has been said, to show the wide field, \vhich 
the subject of education opens ; that it embraces tlie de- 
velopment of the physical, as well as of the moral and in- 
tellectual powers of man ; that many of its departments 
have been, hitherto, wholly neglected, or committed to 
chance ; and that many more are attempted under such 
disadvantages, as to place a tolerably successful result be- 
yond our reasonable expectations. That is, we exercise 
opposite influences over the young ; counteracting by one, 
the very purpose which we expect to attain by another. 
And though I have done but little more than to glance at 
the unbounded prospect which spreads itself before me, 
and allures me by its freshness and its interest in every 
direction ; it is, perhaps, more than time to turn away from 
these general views of the subject, and attend to nearer 
objects. There is enough under our own eyes, and within 
our own doors, to engross all the time and attention which 
we have to bestow. What have the people of Massachu- 
setts done, what are they doing, and what will they do, in 
the business of education ? These seem to me to be ques- 
tions of the deepest interest to this whole community. 

We can recur with no small degree of pleasure to our 
history, and see what has been done. The pilgrims of 
Plymouth set the first example not only to our own coun- 
try, but to the civilized world, of a system of Free Schools, 
at which were educated together, not by compulsion but 
from mutual choice, all classes of the community, — the 
high, the low, the rich, and the poor. A system, by which 
the state so far assumed the education of the youth, as to 
make all property responsible for the support of common 



2U 

schools lor the instruction of all children. This institu- 
tion was indeed the foster child, and has justly been the 
pride of Massachusetts and of New England. Its influences 
were strong and they still are strong upon the moral and 
political character of the people. 

If our ancestors were stern republicans, this institution 
did more than any and all others, to make them so, and to 
keep them so. While the best schools in the land are free 
all the classes of society are blended. The rich and the 
poor meet and are educated together. And if educated 
together, nature is so even handed in the distribution of her 
favors that no fear need be entertained, that a monopoly 
of talent, of industry and consequently of acquirements 
will follow a monopoly of property. The principle, upon 
which our free schools are established, is in itself, a stern 
leveler of factitious distinctions. Every generation, while 
the system is executed according to the true spirit of it, 
as conceived by our ancestors, will bring its quota of neu> men 
to fill the public ])laces of distinction, — men who owe 
nothing to the fortunes or the crimes of their fathers, but 
all, under the blessing of God, to their own industry and 
the common schools. I say the principle in itself, because 
it has never been carried into full operation, and probably 
never will be. 

Its tendency, however, is not to level by debasing the ex- 
alted ; but by exalting the debased. And it is a more 
effectual check against an aristocracy of wealth, and 
consequently of political influence, than would be a na- 
tional jubilee and the equal distribution of property once 
in fifty-years, without such a principle at the foundation of 
our system of public instruction. " Knowledge is power," 
says Lord Bacon ; and so is property power, because it will 
procure knowledge. If we suppose society divided into 
two classes, the rich and the poor, the property of the for- 
mer class, if there were no such institution as the free 
schools, would procure such immense advantages of edu- 
cation, as to bring second, third, and any rate talents, 
into successful competition with those of the first order, 
without such advantages. 

This use of property puts upon it its highest value. And 
it would not be politic, if it were possible to destroy it. 
But, it should seem that this use ought to be limited ; and 
that some of our institutions, at least, ought to have the 



21 

tendency to put all upon the footing, on which nature and 
the God of nature left them. And just in proportion as . 
you lose sight of, or abandon the true principle of the free 
schools ; you lose sight of, and abandon all the moral, po- 
litical, and religious blessings which result from them. 
You check the diffusion of knowledge through all classes 
of people. You stop the circulation through the extremi- 
ties of the body politic of the very life-blood, which must 
nourish and sustain them. You may preserve and amuse , 
yourselves with the name of free institutions, and of a re- 
publican government, but you will not be blessed with the 
reality. You may incorporate in your constitution, if you 
like, the articles, " that all men are born free and equal," 
and " that all are eligible to the highest offices ;" but this 
is not freedom, while ninety-nine hundredths of the com- 
munity have not the means of fitting themselves or their 
children, for discharging the duties of those high offices. 
As well might you tie the legs, and pinion the arms of a 
man, and tell him he has as fair a chance to win the race, 
as one who is free and trained to the course. Something 
like this our ancestors must have felt, who established the 
free schools ; and something like tiiis, their posterity must 
feel, if they would cherish and preserve ihem. 

Tiie first organization of the schools under the Colony 
Charter did not, probably, yield so good instruction, as was 
afforded afterwards, or as is afforded now in them. But it 
gave to all the best elementary education, which could be 
procured in the country. The next organization under 
the Province Charter gave better instruction to be sure ; 
but its excellence was more the result of the progress ot 
society in other respects, than of any improvements in the 
discipline of the schools themselves. Though somewhat 
advanced, they did not so much take the lead of society, as 
they had done before ; and individuals began to look about 
them and to supply for themselves and their families better 
instruction than they afforded. Under our present con- 
stitution, or for the last forty years, the schools have no 
doubt been vastly improved. But they have, most certain- 
ly, not kept up with the progress of society, in other re- 
spects. Although their absolute motion must be acknowl- 
edged to have been onward, their relative motion has, for 
many years, been retrograde. And there never was a 
time, since the settlement of the conntrv, when the com- 



22 

mon schools were farther in the rear of the improvements of 
the age in ahnost every thing else affecting our condition 
and happiness, than they are at the present moment. 

We impose upon ourselves in examining our literary in- 
stitutions, and in estimating the efliciency of our means of 
popular education somewhat in this manner. We see six 
schools supported now, where there were once but three ; 
and, therefore, conclude that just twice as much attention is 
paid to education as there formerly was. But there are 
probably four times as many scholars and inhabitants, up- 
on the same territory as then supported the three schools, 
and more than four times the amount of wealth. So that 
instead of six, they ought at the same rate, to support 
more than twelve schools. We see, indeed, many new 
branches of learning introduced into all our lower semi- 
naries, and hastily conclude, that all this is advancement in 
their character and condition. True, it may be so ; but 
how many new arts and sciences have sprung up within 
these few years; and assumed the dignity of separate and 
important departments of education.^ And what sort of 
a figure in the world would your pupil make if desti- 
tute of instruction in them ? Does a common school 
education prepare those, who have that only, better for dis- 
charging all the duties, which society requires of its best 
and highest citizens, than it did forty years ago ? This is 
the correct method of estimating the condition of the 
schools. We must compare them with the altered state of 
society in other respects. 

Our instructors of the present day, would, no doubt, ap- 
pear to good advantage when contrasted with those of the 
last century. But compare them with the first men in the 
community. What is their standing there ? By these 
means, and by these only, can we decide correctly, whether 
they are likely to take the lead in the improvements of the 
age ; or whether they will, more probably fall lazily into 
the wake of those improvements, which have gone far be- 
fore them. Examine the amount of your appropriations 
for the support of free schools, in connexion with the num- 
ber of youth, who must be educated in them, and also in 
connexion with the present wealth of the country ; exam- 
ine rvhat is taught in connexion with what is required, in 
order to discharge successfully, all the duties of a citizen 
of the republic ; examine how it is taught in connexion 



23 

vvitli the present improved state of science and tlie arts ; 
and above all, examine the acquirements, the experience, 
and tiie skill of your teachers, in connexion with the im- 
portant duty which you assign to them ; and there can be 
no doubt, that you will come to the conclusion, that the 
condition of the free schools is far behind, what the im- 
proved and improving state of society among us requires, 
i^nd while you pass loud praises to the memory of your 
ancestors, for the establishment of an institution, which 
has contributed so much to your own happiness, prosperi- 
ty, and glory, you stand convicted of perverting it in your 
hands, and "defrauding posterity of an inheritance, which 
was designed for them. 

Having thus stated the principles upon which an exami- 
nation mto our means of popular education should be 
conducted, then briefly alluded to the principal points to 
which inquiries should be first directed, and lastly inti- 
mated the result, at which I have arrived, and at which 1 
think all must arrive, in regard to the present condition of 
the free schools, I now hasten forward to take a similar 
view of other parts of the system. The decline of popular 
education among us, or rather the comparatively retro- 
grade motion of the principal means of it, has been more 
perceptible, during the last twenty or thirty years, than it 
ever was at any former period. And in the mean time, 
there has sprung up another class of schools, more res- 
pectable, indeed, in their character, and better answering 
the demands of a portion of the public, but not free. The 
academies are public, but not free schools. They are open 
to the whole community, under certain conditions. But 
those conditions exclude nineteen twentieths of the peo- 
ple, from participating in the advantages, which they are 
designed to afford. Leaving behind, then, nineteen twen- 
tieths of the whole population of the state, the academies 
have generally been so well conducted, as to meet the 
wants and expectations of the other twentieth. This last 
small fraction embraces that part of the community, who 
set the highest value upon the influence of early educa- 
tion, and are able to defray the expenses necessary to 
provide for it. But in the rapid progress of knowledge, 
and the consequent demand for instruction of all kinds,even 
this class of schools has ceased to be adequate to supply 
the wants of all. And private establishments begin to 
take the lead of them. 



24 

Now I rejoice at the establishment of every institution 
for the education of youth, whether it be for the benefit 
of one or a thousand, if it can be conducted upon better 
principles of government and instruction than those which 
generally prevail. It is matter of congratulation that there 
are some among us, who feel the need of better schools; and 
I am one of the most hearty admirers of the private enter- 
prize, which would endeavour to supply so important a 
public demand. I appreciate fully, too, the eflbrts of 
those who have founded and conducted our public Acade- 
mies. But, it is most deeply to be regretted, that their 
plans are quite so much tinctured with the notions of the 
last century, and, that the systems of instruction and go- 
vernment, which they adopt, do not partake more largely 
of the modern and improved ideas of education. The en- 
ergy of their boards of directors, too, is frequently much 
impaired by the struggles among individuals to adjust oppo- 
site views and conflicting interests. And the fear of inno- 
vation hangs like an incubus upon many, and paralizes the 
eflTorts of all, even of those who have thrown it off. 

Better schools and better instruction are demanded, 
than the academies in their present state afford. And 
they must soon be supplied. It is certainly to be regret- 
ted, that these public demands exist to so great an extent, 
and that they are every day increasing. It may here, 
without impertinence, be suggested to those who control 
the public academies, that if those establishments were 
put in the condition in which it should seem they might 
easily be put, they would meet the wants of even the 
most discriminating, and anticipate the opening of private 
schools of a higher character. If those wants exist, it is 
certainly better that they should be supplied by private 
schools, than not at all. But it would be much more for 
the interest of the community, if they could be supplied 
or anticipated by public ones. Not because it is any 
evil, that a few scholars are withheld from the public 
schools, and better provided for in private ones. But 
every private establishment, which is so far superior to 
the public ones, as to draw off a portion of the patronage 
which would otherwise be bestowed upon them, detaches 
a portion of the community from the great mass, and 
weakens or destroys their interest in those means of edu- 
cation which are common to the whole people. 



25 

The character and influence of this enlightened and 
efficient part of the community, who thus secede from the 
whole, will be found in the end, when, })erhaps, it is too 
late to remedy the evil, to be a loss, which has not yet 
been duly estimated. Their property may be, cheerfully, 
yielded to support the public schools, but their wisdom is 
needed to direct them. The remote good of an improved 
state of society, and the security and happiness of being 
surrounded by more intelligent neighbours, may, for a time, 
be sufficient to control the purses of people, but their 
hearts will most surely follow and abide with their own 
children. Now if the public academies, or at least some 
of them, be not new modelled and improved so as to meet 
the demands of even those, who demand the most, there 
must inevitably a portion of interest in them, soon secede 
from their support. And by the by, (may it be at some 
very distant day) when our population comes to be crowd- 
ed ; when our numbers have become so great as to press 
hard upon the means of subsistence ; when property comes 
to be more unequally distributed than it now is ; when the 
rich become more insolent and the poor more depressed, 
'more hungry, and more factious ; then will jealousies arise, 
and grow strong, between the different classes of the com- 
munity ; then will the children of the higher classes be 
contaminated by contact with those of the lower ; then will 
general and public interest yield to particular and private 
interest; then will a large portion of the property be with- 
held from the means of popular education, or be extorted 
from unwilling owners ; then will the several classes, being 
educated differently and without a knowledge of each 
other, imbibe mutual prejudices and hatreds, and entail 
them upon posterity from generation to generation. This 
may be reffiiing a little too much, or looking a little too 
deeply into futurity, but it is the natural tendency of things, 
upon sound principles of political reasoning. Circum- 
stances may conspire to hasten or retard the time, but the 
time will come, when those who hold most property, will 
not be so zealous, as they now are, to urge it u{)on others 
for their better education. Charity between individuals, 
is soon tired, when it begins to be abused. And a policy 
in government, however generous and nobfe it may be, o})c- 
rating in favour of the more ignorant and the weaker part oi 
tiie communitv at the expense of the wiser and the stronger. 
4 



26 

will soon be abandoned, when it begins to be perverted. 
May our rulers look to this natural and powerful tendency 
of things, and check it while it may be checked ; or coun- 
teract its influence as far as it may be counteracted. And 
what means are there so likely to do this as an efficient 
system of popular education, which shall bring ©ut and 
put in vigorous action and keep in constant and struggling 
competition the greatest amount of intellect among all 
classes ! 



ESSAY IV. 



ACADEMIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE FREE SCHOOLS, 



The academies were unknown in Massachusetts before 
the revolution. The oldest of these institutions is PhiHips" 
Academy at Andover, the date of whose charter is 1780. 
Before this time, all public schools, it should seem, were 
also free. The number of these seminaries or high schools 
did not much increase for many years after the close of the 
revolutionary war. But, during a short period, about ten or 
fifteenyears since, they were multiplied toaverygreatextent. 
The people of Massachusetts, always desirous of following 
the policy of the pilgrims of Plymouth in regard to schools, 
seemed for a time absurdly to suppose, that they had but 
to get an academy incorporated and established in their 
neighbourhood, and that their children would be educated 
without farther trouble. But in this too sanguine expecta- 
tion, they have been most of them somewhat disappointed. 
An act of incorporation has not been found, on experi- 
ment, to be quite so efficacious as was, at first, anticipated. 
And many of these institutions, which, in the imagination 
of their projectors, rose at once almost to the dignity of 
colleges, are now found in a very inefficient, indeed, in a 
most wretched condition. 

The legislature of the State, then willing and anxious 
to encourage " learning and good morals " among the peo- 
ple| — a duty, which the constitution solemnly enjoins upon 
them, — by all means in their power, granted as many acts of 
incorporation as were petitioned for ; and to many of these 
corporations, in token of their good will, they appropriated 
townships of land in the interiour and northerly part of 
Maine, which then formed a part of Massachusetts. Some 
of these townsliips of land, by the way, it i? to be feared 



28 

uiuy be found on the wrong side of the boundary line to be 
drawn between Maine and the British Provinces. So far 
' us this policy evinced a desire to encourage the diflusion 
of knowledge, it should receive the commendation, which 
good intentions always deserve ; but, for all practical pur- 
poses for perhaps fifty years from the date of these charters 
and appropriations, the legislature might about as well have 
assigned to thic petitioners for them a tract of the Moon. 
When these hungry corporate beings had been created 
by the legislature, and their first cries for sustenance had 
been soothed by the unsavoury dish of eastern lands, they 
were then abandoned to the charity of their friends ; or, if 
they proved cold, to a lingering death by starvation. The 
eastern lands, which constituted the patrimony of the State, 
were in most cases utterly unavailable. The benevolence 
of Iriends was, generally, exhausted in accumulating the 
means to erect suitable buildings. And the corporation 
were left to relj upon their own sagacity for procuring other 
resources to put their institution in operation. The more 
essential, indeed, almost the oidy essential part of a good 
academy, viz : a good instructer, was left unprovided for. 
The only expedient which remained, was, to support the 
teacher by a tax upon the scholars. It seemed but reasonable 
that those, who enjoyed the exclusive benefit of the institu- 
tion, should pay lor their own instruction. But this condi- 
tion, though perhaps but a small sum was required of each 
pupil in order to produce an adequate salary for an instruc- 
ter, removed the advantages of the academies, at once, be- 
yond the reach of a large proportion of the inhabitants. The 
appropriations of the State, therefore, for the support of 
these schools, if they benefitted any body in particular, 
surely benefitted not the poor, but the rich and middling 
classes of the community. At least, these enjoyed the 
chief advantage of them, the direct rays of the State's favour; 
while the poor could feel only a dim reflection of them. 
>^ That the academies, at least, those of them wiiich have 

been put and sustained in a tolerably respectable condi- 
tion, have been a great accommodation to a few of our 
inhabitants, cannot be doubted. And how few are thos'e, 
who have received any advantages from them, may be 
easily estimated by comparing the small number of children 
instructed in tiiem, with the whole number in the Com- 
monwealth. Still these are, or may be, useful institutions. 



1 have certainly no desire to lessen the high repute, in 
which they seem to be held. On the contrary, I wish they 
were in higher estimation than they really are. And, 
what is more, I wish they were more worthy of that estima- 
tion. But they should be appreciated tor the character 
which they possess, and never for that which they do not 
possess. And they are not establishments for the instruc- 
tion of the poor. Neither can they be relied upon as effi- 
cient means for the education of the mass or even a ma- 
jority of the people ; because as has been before inti- 
mated, their conditions exclude nineteen twentieths of the 
whole population of the State from a participation of their 
advantages. If they are sustained, therefore, it must bo 
upon some other ground. What that ground is, it is not 
my purpose now to inquire. But what has been their influ- 
ence uDon the free or town schools ? 

One influence, which they undoubtedly have had, lias 
been to prepare young instructers some better than they 
could be prepared in the town schools themselves. This 
is a good influence. x\nd if the same object could not be 
attained much better by other means, it would deserve 
great consideration in estimating the utility, which we 
are to expect from those establishments for the future. 
But tl'.e 'preparation of instructers for the free schools, 
never formed a part of the original design of the acade- 
mies. They were intended to aiford instruction in other 
and higlicr branches of education, than those usually 
taught in the free schools ; and not merely to give better 
instruction in the same branches. Much less did it come 
within the wide scope of their purposes to give instruction 
in the science of teaching generally. So that the little 
good derived from them in this respect is only incidental. 

The preparation of instructors for free schools is a subject 
of such moment to this community, that it will hardly be 
thought expedient, on reflection, to trust it to chance 
or to incidents. Experience and observation have con- 
vinced those, who have attended to the subject, that ade- 
quate instructers for the free schools are not prepared b} 
these incidental means. In order to be efiicient and effec- 
tual in attaining that desirable object, means must be ap- 
plied directly to it. But of the education of instructers. 
more by and by. I wish merely now to say, and I trust 1 
have shown, tliat the academies cannot be relied upon for 



30 

accomplishing that object, so as in any good degree to 
meet the demands and answer the reasonable expectations 
of the community. 

But the academies have had another influence upon 
the public town schools, which has much impaired their 
usefulness, and, if not soon checked, it will ultimately de- 
stroy them. This influence, operating for a series of years, 
has led, already, to the abandonment of a part of the free 
school system, and to a depreciation in the character and 
prospects of the remaining part. And it is working, not 
slowly, the destruction of the vital principle of the institu- 
tion, more valuable to us than any other, for the preserva- 
tion of enlightened freedom. The pernicious influence, to 
which I allude, will be better understood, by taking an 
example of its operation on a small scale ; and then ex- 
tending the same principle of examination to the whole 
State, or to New England. 

Take any ten contiguous towns in the interiour of this 
Commonwealth, and suppose an academy to be placed in 
the centre of them. An academy, as 1 have before ob- 
served, commonly means a corporation, with a township of 
land in Maine, given them by the State, and a pretty con- 
venient house, built generally by the patriotic subscriptions 
of those who expect to use it ; the instructer being support- 
ed, chiefly or altogether, by a separate tax on t!ic scholars. 
In each of these ten towns, select the six individuals, who 
have families to educate, who set the highest value on early 
education, and who are able to defray the expenses of the 
best which can be had, either in a private school among 
themselves, or at the academy, which, by the supposition, is 
in their neighbourhood. Now of what immediate conse- 
quence can it be to the six families of each town, or to the 
sixty families of the ten towns, whether there be such a 
thing as a free school in the Commonwealth or not ! Ihey 
have a general interest in them, to be sure, because they 
have themselves been there instructed, and the early asso- 
ciations of childhood and youth are strong ; and they have 
a sort of speculative belief, if it be not rather an innate sen- 
timent, that free schools make a free people. But how are 
their own particular, personal, and immediate interests af- 
fected .^ Without any libel upon good nature, these are 
the main springs to human actions. These are the motives, 
which find their wav soonest to the human heart, and influ- 



31 

eiice most powerfully and steadily the opinions of men. 
and the conduct founded upon and resulting from them. 

As soon as difficulties and disagreements, in regard to 
the free schools, arise, as they necessarily must, upon vari- 
ous topics ; such as, the amount of money to be raised, the 
distribution of it among the several districts, the manner of 
appropriation, whether it be to the " summer schools " or to 
the " winter schools," to pay an instructor from this family or 
from that family, of higher qualifications or of lower qua- 
lifications, of this or that political or religious creed, or a 
thousand other questions which are constantly occurring ; 
if any of our six families happen to be dissatisfied or dis- 
gusted with any course which may be adopted, they will, 
immediately, abandon the free schools, and provide for the 
education of their children in their own way. They may 
organize a private school, for their own convenience, upon 
such principles as they most approve. Or, they may send 
their scholars, at an expense trifling to them, to the acade- 
my in their neighbourhood. Well, what if they do ? The 
free schools remain, all taxes are paid, cheerfully, for their 
support, and the number of scholars is lessened. What is the 
evil of their sending their children somewhere else to be 
educated ? We should, at first, suppose that it would be 
an advantage ; inasmuch as the amount of money to be 
expended would be left the same, and the number of pupils 
to receive the benefit of it would be considerably dimin- 
ished. 

But the evils of this course, and of the general policy 
of the State government, which has led to it, are very se- 
rious ones. When the six individuals of any country 
town, who are, by the supposition, first in point of wealth 
and interest in the subject, and who will generally be also 
first in point of intelligence and influence in town affairs, 
withdraw their children from the common schools ; there 
are, at the same time, withdrawn a portion of intelligence 
from their direction and heartfelt interest from their sup- 
port. This intelligence is needed, to manage the delicate 
and important concerns of the schools. And this heartfelt 
interest is needed, to lead the way to improvements, to 
stimulate and encourage larger and larger appropriations, 
and to ensure vigilance in their expenditure. Patriotism 
and philanthropy are dull motives to exertions for the im- 
provement of common schools compared with parental 



32 

ufiectioii. And tliis quickening power has gone oti" to the 
academies or somewhere else with the children, who are 
the objects of it. 

Look at the operation of this influence of the academies 
upon the free schools, on a still smaller scale. Examine 
the condition of the latter in the very towns, where 
academies are placed ; and where, if their influence be a 
happy one, we should expect to find the conmion schools 
in the best condition. What is the fact.^ From observa- 
tion and from information collected from authentic sources, 
the assertion may be hazarded that the condition of the 
free schools will be found, on examination, to be worse, far 
Avorse, in those towns than in any others. And it is for this 
plain reason: because those, who can barely a ftbrd^the ex- 
pense of tuition, will send their children to the academy, 
which the state or benevolent individuals have built up for 
their accommodation, and give themselves no farther trou- 
ble about the free schools, but to pay the tax-bill for their 
support when it is presented. 

Thus the men, who would have the most interest in the 
subject, the most intelligence and the most leisure to con- 
duct the concerns of the town schools, secede from them, 
and join themselves to other institutions. Abolish the 
academy and leave these six families of each town to the free 
schools alone, and you would find all their powers assidu- 
ously employed to put them in the best condition possible. 
Or rather put the free schools in a state to aflbrd as good in- 
struction as the academies now do, and you would supersede 
in a great degree the necessity of them. And it is appre- 
hended, that it would be quite easy to place them upon a 
footing to give even better instruction, at least, in all the 
elementary branches of a common education, than the 
academies now give or ever have given. If the princi- 
ples suggested above for the examination of our means of 
popular education be correct, and if the influence of the 
private establishments upon the academies, and of the 
academies upon the free schools be really such as it has 
been described to be, my readers, by following out the 
inquiries which those principles lead to, in all their rela- 
tions and bearings, cannot fail to convince themselves, that 
something may be done, as well as much said upon this 
subject. 



ESSAY V. 



FAULTS OF THE FREE SCHOOLS. 



Towards the close of my third essay, a comparison was 
instituted between the rcademies and those private estab- 
lishments, which begin and will continue to grow up, 
while the former do not aftbrd as good instruction, as can 
be procured in this or in any country. The conclusion 
was, that as a means of public instruction, the academies 
are, decidedly, the most to be relied upon ; because their 
conditions do not exclude more than nineteen twentieths of 
the people, from the free enjoyment of their advantages ; 
whereas, the private establishments of high character, are 
beyond the reach of at least ninety-nine hundredths. In my 
last essay, a comparison, upon the same principles, was 
drawn between the academies and the free schools. And 
the conclusion was, that we cannot safely rely upon the for- 
mer, either for directly instructing the mass of the people, 
who are found only in the free schools, or for preparing in- 
structers for them, and thus, indirectly, accomplishing the 
same object. Our only reliance, therefore, is upon the town 
schools; because access to them is open to all. Whereas, 
certainly not more than one twentieth, and probably not more 
than one fiftieth of the whole population can gain admittance 
to the academies at all. Hence, if any measures are to be 
taken, or any appropriations to be made by the legislature 
for the diffusion of knowledge generally, it should seem 
that the free schools demand their first attention. They are 
the foundation not only of our whole system of public instruc- 
tion, but of all our free institutions. Let our rulers take 
care, then, that this basis be not allowed to crumble away 
on any pretence. If it do so, there will be wrenching in 
the political fabric, \vhcn it will be too late to apply a 
5 



34 

brace, — disorder and confusion, when it will be too late to 
take the alarm, — and impending ruin when it will be too 
late to escape it. But let this foundation be laid deep and 
firm, not only in the constitution and the laws of our coun- 
try ; but also in the heads and the hearts of our country- 
men. The care of the higher seminaries of learning, the 
ornaments of our system of popular education, will more 
appropriately follow. 

Before we attempt, however, to take a single step to- 
wards reform let us see what we have to amend. Unless 
faults can be shown to exist in the organization of our sys- 
tem of popular education, and great ones ; it will do but 
little good to recommend improvements. For it is with 
communities as with individuals ; and " no one," says Fish- 
er Ames, " is less likely to improve, than the coxcomb, 
who fancies he has already learned out." The pride, 
which we of New England have been accustomed to feel 
and, perhaps, to manifest, in our free schools, as the best in 
the country, and in the world, has not improved their con- 
dition. But, on the contrary, the great complacency with 
which we contemplate this institution is a most effectual 
bar to all improvements in it. The time has come, when 
we owe it to our country and ourselves to speak the whole 
truth in this matter, even though it disturb our self-satis- 
faction a little. 

It will be convenient to point out the faults of the pub- 
lic provisions for popular education under the two follow- 
ing heads ; first, the " Summer Free Schools," which are, 
generally, taught in the country towns for a few months in 
the warm season of the year by females ; and second, the 
" Winter Free Schools," which are taught by men, com- 
monly, for a shorter period, during the cold season. 
Children of both sexes of from four to ten or twelve years, 
usually attend these primary summer schools, and females 
often to a much later age.* This is a very interesting peri- 
od of human life. No one, who has reflected much upon 
the subject of early discipline ; no one, 1 trust, who has 
even followed me through the preceding essays, can doubt, 
that it is one of the most important parts, if not the very most 
important part of our lives, as it regards the influence of 
education in its widest sense. It is important as it re- 

* See Letters on the Free Schools of New England, pp. 29 — 32. 



36 

gards the developemcnt of the powers of the body, or 
physical education. Because the parts of the body, the 
limbs, the muscles, the organs, or whatever are the techni- 
cal names for them, now assume a firmness and consistency 
in discharging their proper functions, or they become dis- 
torted and enfeebled ; and these habits, thus early con- 
tracted, become a part of ourselves and are as abiding as our 
lives. Yet what has been done in this branch of edu- 
cation ? Nothing at all, absolutely nothing at all, even in 
our best schools. This period is vitally important as it 
regards the cultivation of the heart and its affections. 
What has been done here ? Chance and ill-directed eftbrts 
make up all the education, which we have received or are 
giving to our children in the schools in this department. 
Finally, it is important to us, as it regards the discipline of 
the head, the developemcnt of the understanding and its 
faculties. What have we done in this department? We 
have done something, indeed, and think that we have done 
much. We have done, and we continue to do, more than we 
do ivcll. We resort to many expedients and apply many 
means, without distinctly understanding, either what we 
wish to attain, whether it be possible to attain it, or if so, 
the adaptation of our means to its attainment. Success 
here, therefore, if the best possible results have ever been 
gained in any instance, has been more the result of 
chance than of skill. 

To wliom do we assign the business of governing and 
instructing our children from four to twelve years of age ? 
Who take upon themselves the trust of forming those prin- 
ciples and habits, which are to be strengthened and con- 
firmed in manhood, and make our innocent little ones 
through life, happy or miserable in themselves, and the 
blessings or the curses of society ? To analyze, in detail, 
the habits, which are formed and confirmed in these first 
schools, to trace the abiding influence of good ones, or to 
describe the inveteracy of bad ones, would lead me 
from my present purpose. But are these interesting 
years of life and these important branches of education 
committed to those, who understand their importance or 
their influence upon the future character? Are thev com- 
mitted to those, who would know what to do, to discharge 
their high trust successfully if they did, indeed, understand 
their importance r 1 think not. And I am persuaded, that all, 



36 

who have reflected but for a moment upon the age, the 
acquirements, and the experience of those who assume to 
conduct this branch of education, must have come to the 
same conchision. 

The teachers of the primary summer schools have rarely 
had any education beyond what they have acquired in the 
very schools where they begin to teach. Their attain- 
ments, therefore, to say the least, are usually vcnj irwderate. 
But this is not the worst of it. They are often very young, 
they are constantly changing their employment, and con- 
sequently can have but little experience ; and what is 
worse than all, they never have had any direct preparation 
for their profession. This is the only service, in which we 
venture to employ young, and often, ignorant persons, with- 
out some previous instruction in their appropriate duties. 
We require experience in all those, whom we employ to 
perform the slightest mechanical labour for us. We would 
not buy a coat or a hat of one, who should undertake to 
make them without a previous apprenticeship. Nor M'ould 
any one have the hardihood to otier to us the result of his 
first essay in manufacturing either of these articles. We 
do not even send an old shoe to be mended, except it be 
to a workman of whose skill we have had ample proof. 
Yet we commit our children to be educated to those, who 
know notliing, absolutely nothing, of the complicated and 
diflicult duties assigned to them. Shall we trust the de- 
velopement of the delicate bodies, the susceptible hearts, 
and the tender minds of our little children to those who 
have no knowledge of their nature ? Can they, can these 
rude hands finish the workmanship of the Almighty ^ No 
language can express the astonishment, which a moments 
reflection on this subject excites in me. 

But I must return to the examination of the qualifications 
of the female teachers of the primary summer schools, from 
which purpose I have unconsciously a little departed to in- 
dulge in a general remark. They are a class of teachers 
unknown in our laws regulating the schools unless it be by 
some latitude of construction. No standard of attainments 
is fixed, at which they must arrive before they assume the 
business of instruction. So that any one keeps school, w hich 
is a very diflerent thing from teaching school, who wishes to do 
it, and can persuade, by herself, or her friends, a small dis- 
trict to employ her. And this is not a very difficult mat- 



37 

tcr, especially when the remuneration for the employ- 
ment is so very trifling. The farce of an examination and 
a certificate from the minister of the town, for it is a per- 
fect farce, amounts to no efficient check upon the obtru- 
sions of ignorance and inexperience. As no standard is 
fixed by law, each minister makes a standard for himself, 
and alters it as often as the peculiar circumstances of the 
case require. And there will always be enough of peculiar 
circumstances to render a refusal inexpedient. 

Let those, who are conversant with the manner in 
which these schools are managed, say, whether this de- 
scription of them undervalues their character and efficacy. 
Let those, who conduct them, pause and consider whether 
all is well, and whether there are not abuses and perver- 
sions in them, which call loudly for attention and reforma- 
tion. Compare the acquirements, the experience, the 
knowledge of teaching possessed by these instructers, 
not one with another, for the standard is much too low ; 
but with what they might be, under more favourable cir- 
cumstances and with proper jireparation. Compare the 
improvement made in these little nurseries of piety and 
religion, of knowledge and rational liberty, not one 
with another, for the progress in all of them is much 
too slow ; but with what the infant mind and heart are 
capable of, at this early age, under the most favourable 
auspices. And there can be no doubt, that all will arrive 
at the same conclusions ; a dissatisfaction with the condi- 
tion of these schools ; and an astonishment, that the pub- 
lic have been so lonsj contented with so small results from 
means, which all will acknowledge capable of doing so 
much. 

The faults of the primary summer schools, then, are, 
a want of adequate acquirements, a want of experience, 
and a total want of any direct preparation of their teachers 
for their employment. These must be acknowledged to 
be great faults ; and they have affected and will continue to 
•affect, essentially, the usefulness of the schools. Neither 
reason, observation, nor experience leaves reffecting men 
any consoling probability, that these defects will be reme- 
died, or the condition of the schools be essentially improv- 
ed, under their present organization. As to the acquire- 
ments of female teachers; there is no standard, to which 
they must be brought for decision, except on moral quali- 



68 

fications. As to experience, they have usually none, and 
they can never have but little ; because they are con- 
stantly leaving their employment and new teachers assum- 
ing it, without any system of their own, or any plan laid down 
for their direction. As to direct preparation for the busi- 
ness of teaching ; such a thing was never heard of. But 
cannot some system or arrangement be devised, by which 
the experience or the results of the experience of those, 
who have gone successfully over the ground, may be com- 
municated to the younger teachers, without the necessity 
of their going over the same ground, and under precisely 
the same disadvantages, all at the expense of the pupils. 

Many of the above remarks upon the character and 
qualifications of the teachers of the summer schools apply 
with equal force to the young men, who undertake the in- 
struction of the primary winter scliools, which now consti- 
tute the highest class of schools, to which the whole pop- 
ulation of the state have free access. My remarks upon 
this class of instructers must also be general ; and as all 
general rules have their exceptions, every individual will, 
of course, consider himself as particularly excused. What 
are the acquirements of these young men, who assume the 
delicate and responsible duty of governing and instructing 
a school of fifty or a hundred children. We have a cata- 
logue, perhaps an ample one, of branches of knowledge, 
which the laws suppose the candidates for the place of 
teacher to be possessed of. But who knows that they come 
up to established standard f And who knows that they 
are fully possessed of the knowledge, which the laws re- 
quire f And who knows, if they do possess it, that they 
will be able to communicate it to their pupils f This is no 
triflin<T consideration in estimating the value and usefulness 
of an instructer .'' The laws provide that the minister and 
the selectmen of each town shall assure themselves, that 
their teachers possess the prescribed qualifications. The 
minister. Which minister."^ There may be, and not unfre- 
quently are, at the present day, half a dozen in the town. 
Wiien the school-law was enacted, in 1TS9, our towns were 
not broken up as they now are, and are likely to be for the 
future, into small parishes. 

Here, then, are six ministers in the same town, of ditfer- 
cnt denominations, of different characters, of different dis- 
crimination, and of ditierent qualifications, some of them. 



39 

perhaps, hardly qualified to teach school themselves. Now 
which one or two among them all shall decide on the quali- 
fications of teachers ? Why let every one decide on the 
qualifications of the instructors employed in his own parish. 
This is very plausible, but not at all practicable. The dif- 
ferent parishes are made up of families from every part of 
the town ; whereas the several school districts are, and 
necessarily must be, laid out without any reference to 
them. The same school district, therefore, may, and prob- 
ably will, contain families, many or few, from every parish 
in the town. Then some one of the six ministers may de- 
cide upon the qualifications of instructors for the whole 
town, which those belonging to other parishes than his 
own would certainly not agree to ; or each must be cloth- 
ed with that power for the whole. What ! will yon allow 
the itinerant preacher, who has only stopped for a few sab- 
baths, or for a few months, to license instructors for the 
whole town ? This is a result, which it seems must follow. 

But the minister must be " settled." Then comes the 
question what is a " settled" minister.'' When we are not 
in the heat of controversy, we can understand such ambig- 
uous language. But the laws do not define what constitutes 
a settled minister. The " Cambridge Platform" is not the 
acknowledged law of the land, upon this subject. The 
parish, and any thing is now a parish, may define the mode, 
in which the relation between them and their preacher 
shall be solemnized. And who can interfere, and say that 
a preacher " settled" only by a vote of uplifted hands is 
not a minister within the intention of the school-law ot 
1789. The looseness of this law has, already, led to difii- 
culties in some places, and the only reason it has not in 
more, is, that there is too much indifference to the subject 
of schools and teachers generally, to induce men to quar- 
rel about them. We have a law indeed and a bench for 
justice ; but we have no judge, or rather any one judges, 
who chooses to do so. 

Other considerations readily suggest themselves to all, 
who are acquainted with the relation subsisting betw^een 
country clergymen and their parishes, why they should be 
relieved of the responsibility of deciding upon the qualifica- 
tions of teachers. Experience has long since proved, that 
their decision does not ensure to the public competent in- 
structers, which alone is sufficient reason why the duty of 



40 

selecting them should be imposed upon others. The cler- 
gy were once the only learned profession and almost the 
only learned men in New England. Now, there are others. 
The task of deciding upon the qualifications of teachers 
is invidious, and those should perform it, whose usefulness 
depends least on popular favour. 

The young man, who lays down his axe and aspires to 
take up the " rod" and rule in a village school, has, usually, 
in common with other young men, a degree of dignity and 
self-complacency, which it is dangerous to the extent of 
his power to disturb. And when he comes to his minister, 
sustained by his own influence in the parish, and that of a 
respectable fatiier and perhaps a large family of friends, 
and asks of him the legal approbation for a teacher, it is 
a pretty delicate matter to refuse it. A firm and conscien- 
tious refusal of approbation to a school-master, has led, in 
more instances than one, to a firm and conscientious refusal 
to hear the minister preacii. And. by the parish difficulties 
growing out of so small an aftliir, he has found himself at 
last " unsettled" and thrown witli his family, perhaps in his 
old age, upon the world to seek and gain his subsistence 
as he may. This is truly martyrdom. And martyrs in or- 
dinary times are rare. Even good men can make peace 
with their consc nces on better terms. So much tor the 
literary qualifications of instructers.* 

It is the intention of the school-law to secure good, 
moral characters in the public instructers by requiring the 
approbation, as to this qualification, of the selectmen of 
the town, where the school is to be taught. No doubt 
selectmen are as good judges of morality as any body of 
men, which could readily be appealed to. But either we 
are a very moral people, or they are not very discriminat- 
ing ; for instances are rare, indeed, of refusal of their ap- 
probation on tftis ground. Jf a young man be moral 
enough to keep out of the State-Prison, he will find no 
difficulty in getting approbation for a school-master. These 

* Since the original publication of these essays, in 1824, an act has 
passed the legislature of Massachusetts, which provides among other 
things that a committee of not less than five persons shall be chosen 
annually to superintend the schools ot'each town, and decide upon the 
qualications of teachers. So tliat the clergy, whetlier they happen to 
be of the connnittee or not, are now virtually relieved from the embar- 
rassing duty which they have hitherto been obliged to iJerforrn. 



41 

tilings ought not to be so. Both the moral and the intel- 
lectual character of the rising generation are influenced 
more by their instructers, during the period of from four to 
twelve years of age, than by any cause so entirely withni 
our control. It becomes then of momentous concern to 
the community, in a moral and religious, as well as in poli- 
tical point of view, that this influence should be the great- 
est and the best possible. That it is not now so, every one, 
I trust, who has followed me through my preceding essays, 
is convinced. And if something be not done, and that 
speedily, to improve the condition of the free schools, and 
especially the primary snmmcr schools, they will not only 
fail of their happiest influence, but in a short time of all 
influence which will be worth estimating. 

If the policy of the legislature, in regard to free schools, for 
the last twenty years be not changed, the institution, which 
has been the glory of New England will, in twenty years 
more, be extinct, if the State continue to relieve themselves 
of the trouble of providing for the instruction of the whole 
people, and to shift the responsibility upon the towns, and 
the towns upon the districts, and the districts upon indi- 
viduals, each will take care of himself and his own family 
as he is able, and as he appreciates the blessing of a good 
education. The rich will, as a class,; '^ave much better 
instruction than they now have, while the poor will have 
much worse or none at all. T|ve academies and private 
schools will be carried to much greater perfection than 
they have been, while the public free schools will become 
stationary or retrograde ; till at length, they will be tin-own 
for support upon the gratuitous, and of course capricious 
and uncertain eftorts of individuals ; and then, lilve the 
lower schools of the crowded cities of Europe, they will 
soon degenerate into mere mechanical establishments, 
such as the famous seminaries of London, Birmingham, and 
Manchester of which we hear so much lately, not for ra- 
tional, moral and intellectual instruction of human beings, 
but for training young animals to march, sing, and draw 
figures in sand, — establishments, in which the power of one 
man is so prodigiously multiplied, that he can overlook, 
direct and control the intellectual exercises of a thousand ! 
And this wretched mockery of education, they must be 
right glad to accept as a charity, instead of inheriting as 
their birthright as good instructioji as the country alfords. 



ESSAY VI. 



OUTLINE OF AN INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF TEACHERS 



I HAVE now pointed to a few of the defects in our sys- 
tem of popular education. I have remarked upon the poh- 
cy of the legislature of the State, in regard to it, as having 
the obvious tendency to depreciate the character of the 
free schools. I have also shown the looseness and confu- 
sion of our lavts upon the subject, in a manner, which I 
trust has produced conviction, that they are now perfectly 
nugatory ; both as it regards the literary and the moral 
qualifications of the teachers. We have outgrown them 
as we outgrow the garments of our childhood. They 
might have fitted very well forty years ago, but they cer- 
tainly look very awkwardly now. And it is high time they 
were thrown off, and something adopted, which may be 
more suited to the taste and character of the age. J have 
made some remarks upon the teachers of the free schools, 
both male and female, and it was my original purpose to 
go more fully into detail in the examination of their char- 
acters and qualifications in connexion with their duties. 
But I must now forbear, and take for granted, what it will be 
very easy to show if it should be necessary, their incom- 
petency to govern and instruct the schools, so as to bring 
from them the happy results, which these same schools 
under better management are capable of producing. With 
these remarks I leave the business of fault-finding, which 
is sometimes a necessary, though always an invidious task. 

The more agreeable, though perhaps more difficult part 
of my plan, remains, viz : to suggest remedies for supplying 
some of the defects, and correcting some of the abuses, 
which have been already pointed out. This part of the 
subject, too, " branches out into an infinity," which puts it 



43 

((uite beyond my power to go into detail. But, it is appre- 
hended, this is not now necessary. It was necessary, how- 
ever, todwell at some length upon a few of the moral and poli- 
tical advantages of a correct system of education; and it was 
necessary to point out, somewhat in detail, the defects and 
abuses of our schools, in order to show that a reform was 
required, — a ihorongh and radical reform. But I am not 
visionary enough to suppose for a moment, that a change 
involving such important interests and consequences, — a 
change requiring such bold innovations upon established 
Usages, as a new organization of our system of public in- 
struction, however desirable it may be in inself, can be 
affected suddenly. I know that it cannot. It is a sound 
maxim, that reforms on all moral and religious subjects 
are slow and progressive. Political changes, too, unless 
they are at^ected by violence and revolution, are also slow. 
And there is no reason to suppose, that a reform in the 
organization of our schools, or in the principles of govern- 
ment and instruction adopted in them, is an exception to 
the general rule. But I am persuaded, that some changes 
and improvements in our schools are most necessary ; and 
1 trust they have been proved to be so. In order, there- 
fore to complete the design, which I proposed to myself to 
accomplish in these essays, it only remains, to sk(Uch in 
a very concise manner, how and where, as it seems to me, 
we should begin a reformation ; the future being left to 
take care of itself. There will, no doubt, be opportunities 
to pursue the subject more at length, hereafter. 

In this view of the general subject of popular education, 
all that immediately concerns us, is reduced to a very small 
compass. Two objects embrace the whole. First, to pro- 
vide competent teachers ; and second, to secure to the pub- 
lic their employment as such. Indeed, the latter of these 
objects is so entirely subsequent to the former, that we may 
fairly say, that we have, at present, to attend to but one 
single object, and that is, to provide competent teachers. 

1"he character of the schools, and ofcourse their political, 
moral, and religious influence upon the community, depend, 
almost solely, upon the character of the teachers. Their 
influence is strong or weak, just in proportion as the in- 
structers are skilful or ignorant — energetic or feeble ; it is 
in this direction or that direction, just as they are imbued 
with one or another principle. So that whatever is done 



44 

to elevate the character of teachers, elevates, at the same 
time, and in the same degree, the character of the schools 
which they teach, and enlarges and strengthens their influ- 
ence upon the community. And whatever is done or suf- 
fered to lower the character of the teachers, nuist sink, at 
the same time and in the same degree, the character of the 
schools, and destroy or pervert their influence upon soci- 
ety. Many other considerations must be taken into ac- 
count in organizing a perfect and an energetic system of 
public instruction. These are some of them ; a generous 
appropriation of money to the purpose, a proper classifica- 
tion of scholars, an efficient and independent tribunal to 
ensure competency in teachers and to overlook, examine, 
and report to the public whether their duties have been 
faithfully performed, and lastly, good books. But all of 
these objects though highly important, are subsequent in 
their nature to the preparation of teachers. And no one 
of them can be attempted with a reasonable expectation 
of accomplishing it to the greatest advantage, till good 
teachers are provided and ready for the work. 

It will do but little good, for example, for the legislature 
of the State to make large appropriations directly for the 
support of schools, till a judicious expenditure of them 
can be ensured. And in order to this, we must have skil- 
ful teachers at hand. It will do but little good to class the 
children till we have instructers properly prepared to take 
charge of the classes. It will do absolutely no good to 
constitute an independent tribunal to decide on the quali- 
fiications of teachers, while they have not had the opportu- 
nities necessary for coming up to the proper standard. 
And it will do no good to overlook and report upon their 
success, when we know beforehand, that they have not the 
^ means of success. It would be beginning wrong, too, to 
build houses and to tell your young and inexperienced in- 
structers to teach this or to teach that subject ; however 
desirable a knowledge of such subjects might be, while it 
is obvious that they cannot know how properly, to teach 
any subject. The science of teaching, for it must be made a 
science, is first, in the order of nature, to be inculcated. 
And it is to this point that the public attention must first be 
turned, to aflect any essential improvement. 

And here let me remark upon a distinction in the quali- 
fications of teachers, which has never been practicall} 



45 

made ; though it seems astonishing that it has so long 
escaped notice. I allude to the distinction between the 
possession of knowledge, and the ability to communicate 
it to other minds. When we are looking for a teach- 
er, we inquire how much he knows, not how much he can 
communicate ; as if the latter qualification were of no con- 
sequence to us. Now it seems to me, that parents and 
children, to say the least, are as much interested in the 
latter qualification of their instructer as in the former. 

Though a teacher cannot communicate more knowledge 
than he possesses ; yet he may possess much, and still be 
able to impart but little. And the knowledge of Sir Isaac 
Newton could be of but trifling use to a school, while 
it was locked up safely in the liead of a country school- 
master. So far as the object of a school or of instruction, 
therefore, is the acquisition of knowledge, novel as the 
opinion may seem, it does appear to me, that both parents 
and pupils are even more interested in the part of their 
teacher's knowledge, which they will be likely to get, than 
in the part which they certainly caimot get. 

One great object in the education of teachers which it 
is so desirable on every account to attain, is, to establish 
an intelligible language of communication between the in- 
structer and his pupil, and enable the former to open his 
head and his heart, and infuse into the other, some of the 
thoughts and feelings, which lie hid there. Instructers and 
pupils do not understand each other. They do not speak the 
same language. They may use the same words ; but this 
can hardly be called the same language, while they attach 
to them such very diilcrent meanings. We must either, by 
some magic or supernatural power, bring children, at once, 
to comprehend all our abstract and diflicult terms ; or our 
teachers must unlearn themselves, and come down to the 
comprehension of children. One of these alternatives is 
only diflicult, while the other is impossible. 

The direct, careful preparation of instructers for the 
profession of teaching must surmoutit this difficulty ; and 
I doubt if there be any other way, in which it can be sur- 
mounted. When instructers understand their profession : 
that is, in a word, when they understand the philosophy of 
the infant mind, what powers are earliest developed, and 
what studies are best adapted to their developement ; then 
it will be time to lay out and subdivide their work into an 



/. 



46 

energetic system of public instruction. Till this step 
towards a reform, which is preliminary in its very nature, 
be taken, every other measure must be adopted in the 
dark ; and, therefore, be liable to fail utterly of its intend- 
ed result. Houses and funds and books are all, indeed, 
important ; but they are only the means of enabling the 
minds of the teachers to act upon the minds of the pupils. 
And they must, inevitably, fail of their happiest eifects, 
till the minds of the teachers have been prepared to act 
upon those of their pupils to the greatest advantage. 

If, then, the first step towards a reform in our system of 
popular education be the scientific preparation of teach- 
ers for the free schools ; our next inquiry becomes, how 
can we soonest and most perfectly achieve an object on 
every account so desirable ? Tlie ready and obvious answer 
is, establish an institution for the very purpose. To my 
mind, this seems to be the only measure, which will ensure 
to the public the attainment of the object. Jt will be cal- 
led a new project. Be it so. The concession does not 
prove, that the project is a bad one, or a visionary, or an 
impracticable one. Our ancestors ventured to do what the 
world had never done before, in so perfect a manner, when 
they establised the free schools. Let us also do what they 
have never so well done yet, and establish an institution 
for the exclusive purpose of preparing instructors for them. 
This is only a second part, a developement or consummation 
of the plan of our fathers. They foresaw the effect of 
universal intelligence upon national virtue and happiness ; 
and they projected the means of securing to themselves 
and to us universal education. They wisely did a new 
thing under the sun. It has proved to be a good thing. 
We now enjoy the results of their labours, and we are 
sensible of the enjoyment. Their posterity have praised 
them, loudly praised them, for the wisdom of their efforts. 
Let us, then, with hints from them, project and accomplish 
another new thing, and confer as great a blessing on those 
who may come after us. Let us finish the work of our 
fathers, in regard to popular education, and give to it its 
full effect. Let us double, for we easily may, the happy 
influences of an institution, which has already attracted 
so much notice from every part of our country, and drawn 
after it so many imitations ; and send it, thus improved, down 
to posterity for their admiration. 



47 

If a seminary for llic purpose of educating teachers sci- 
entifically be essential in order to give the greatest effica- 
cy to our system of popular education; then, in the pro- 
gress of the discussion, the three following questions arise 
in the order in which they are stated. By whom should 
the proposed institution be established ? What would be 
its leading features ? And what would be some of the pe- 
culiar advantages to the public, which would result from 
it. To answer these several questions at length would re- 
quire a book ; v»'hile 1 have, at present, only leisure to pre- 
pare one or two newspaper-essays. A few hints, thererefore, 
upon the above three topics are all that I dare profess to 
give, and more than I fear I can give, either to my own sa- 
tisfaction or that of those readers, who may have become 
interested in the subject. 

The institution from its peculiar purpose must necessarily 
be both literary and scientific in its character. And al- 
though, with its design constantly in view, we could not 
reasonably expect it to add, directly, much to the stock of 
what is now called literature, or to enlarge much the 
boundaries of what is now called science ; yet, from the 
very nature of the subject to which it would be devoted, 
and upon which it would be employed, it must in its pro- 
gress create a kind of literature of its own, and open a new 
science somewhat peculiar to itself — the science of the de- 
velopement of the infant mind, and the science of com- 
municating knowledge from one mind to another while in 
a different stage of maturity. The tendency of the m- 
quiries which must be carried on, and the discoveries which 
would be constantly made, in a seminary for this new pur- 
pose, would be to give efficacy to the pursuits of other lit- 
erary and scientific institutions. Its influence, therefore, 
though indirect, would be not the less powerful upon the 
cause of literature and the sciences generally. These re- 
marks may seem to anticipate another part of my subject; 
but they are introduced here, to show, that a seminary for 
the education of teachers, would stand, at least, on as fa- 
vourable a footing in relation to the public as other lite- 
rary and scientific institutions. It seems now to be believed 
that the Legislature of the State are the rightful i)roprietors [ 
of all public institutions for the diffusion of knowledge. 
And if they are of any, they certainly ought to be of one 
for such a purpose. Because there are none in which the 



48 

public would be more deeply interested. There are none, 
which would tend so much to ditTuse knowledge among 
the whole mass of the people. And this, as has been be- 
fore remarked, is a solemn duty enjoined upon our govern- 
ment by the constitution, under which they are organized, 
and from which they derive their authority. Besides it is 
the first impulse of every government, operating as quickly 
and as steadily as instinct, to provide for its own preser- 
vation. And it seems to be conceded on all hands, by the 
friends as well as the enemies of freedom, that a govern- 
ment like our own can only exist among a people gener- 
ally enlightened ; the only question as to the permanency 
of free institutions being, whether it be possible to make 
and to keep the ivhole population of a nation so well edu- 
cated as the existence of such institutions supposes and 
requires. 

Our government, therefore, are urged by every motive, 
which the constitution can enjoin or self-preservation sug- 
gest to see to it, that knowledge is generally diffused among 
the people. Upon this subject of popular education, a/ree 
government must be arbitrary. For its existence depends 
upon it. The more ignorant and degraded people are, the 
less do they feel the want of instruction, and the less will 
they seek it. And these are the classes of a community, 
which always increase the fastest up to the very point, 
where the means of subsistence fail. So that if any one 
class of men, however small, be suffered as a body, to re- 
main in ignorance, and to allow their families to grow up 
without instruction, they will increase in a greater ratio 
compared with their numbers, than the more enlightened 
classes, till they have a preponderance of physical power. 
And when this preponderance becomes overwhelming, what 
hinders a revolution, and an arbitrary government, by 
which the mind of a few can control the physical strength 
of the many. 

If this reasoning be correct, a free government must look 
to it betimes, that popular ignorance does not gain upon 
them. If it do, there is a thistle in the vineyard of the re- 
public, which will grow and spread itself in every direction, 
till it cannot be eradicated. The ignorant must be allur- 
ed to learn, by every motive which can be offered to them. 
And if they will not thus be allured, they must be taken 
by the strong arm of government and brought out, willing 



49 

or unwilling, and mado to learn, at least, enough to make 
them peaceable and good citizens. It would be well, in- 
deed, if the possibility could be held out to all of success- 
fully aspiring to responsible stations in society. A faint 
hope is better than despair. And though only one chance 
in a thousand be favourable, even that is worth something 
to stimulate the young to greater etlbrtsto become worthy 
of distinction. The i^ew, who under all the disadvantages, 
which adverse circumstances impose, can find their way by 
untired perseverance to places of trust and influence in 
the republic, serve to give identity of feeling, of purpose 
and pursuit to the whole. They harmonise and bind to- 
gether all those different and distant classes of the com- 
munity, between which fretful jealousies naturally subsist. 

These are hints, only, at an argument, perhaps unintelligi- 
ble ones, to establish the principle, that free governments 
are the proprietors of all literary and scientific institutions 
so far as they have the tendency to diftuse knowledge gen- 
erally among the people. The free schools of iMassachu- 
setts, as the most efficient means of accomplishing that ob-' 
ject, should therefore be the property and the peculiar care' 
of government. An argument will, at once, be drawn from' 
these principles why they should assume the direction of 
the schools, so far as to ensure to the people over whom 
they are appointed to preside, competent teachers of them. 
And as this is the main purpose of the proposed institu- 
tion, the reasoning seems to be conclusive, why they 
should be its proprietor, or, at least, its patron and protec- 
tor. 

An institution for the education of teachers, as has been 
before intimated, would form a part, and a very important 
part of the free school system. It would be, moreover, 
precisely that portion of the system, which should be un- 
der the direction of the State whether the others are or 
not. Because we should thus secure at once, an uniform, 
intelligent and independent tribunal for decisions on the 
qualifications of teachers. Because we should thus relieve 
the clergy of an invidious task, and ensure to the public 
competent teachers, if such could be found or prepared. 
An mstitution for this purpose would become by its influ- 
ence on society, and particularly on the young, an engine 
to sway the public sentiment, the public morals, and the 
public religion, more powerful than any other in the pos- 
7 



^0 

session of government. It should, therefore, be responsi- 
ble immediately to them. And they should, carefully, 
overlook it ; and prevent its being perverted to other 
purposes, directly or indirectly, than those for which it is 
designed. It should be emphatically the State's insti- 
tution. And its results would soon make it the State's fa- 
vourite and pride, among other literary and scientific in- 
stitutions. The Legislature of the State should, therefore, 
establish and build it up, without waiting for individuals at 
great private sacrifices to accomplish the work. Such 
would be the influence of an institution for the education 
of teachers ; and such is the growing conviction of the 
strength of early associations and habits, that it cannot be 
long before the work will be begun in some form. If it be 
not undertaken by the public and for public purposes, it 
will be undertaken by individuals for private purposes. 

The people of Massachusetts are able and willing, yea, 
more than willing, they are anxious to do something more 
for popular education, for the diffiision of knowledge gen- 
erally. The only questions with them are how and where 
can means be applied to the purpose to the greatest ad- 
vantage. It may safely be submitted, by the friends of 
the free schools, to a republican people and their republi- 
can government, which institutions on comparison most 
deserve the public bounty; those whose advantages can 
be enjoyed but by a few, or those which are open to the 
whole population ; those which have for their main objects 
good that is remote, or those, whose happy influences are 
felt, at once, through the whole community. Which insti- 
tutions deserve the first consideration, and the most anxious 
attention of a popular government, those, which will place 
a few scholars and philologists upon a level with the Ger- 
mans in a knowledge of Greek accents ; or those which 
will put our whole people upon the level of enlightened 
men in their practical knowledge of common things. These 
objects may all be important to us. But the former will be 
provided for by individuals ; the latter are the peculiar care 
of government. 

The next question, mentioned above, as arising in the 
progress of this discussion, was, what would be the leading 
features of an institution for the education of teachers. 
If the institution were to be founded by the State, upon a 
large scale, the following parts would seem to be obvious- 
ly essential. ]. An appropriate library with a philosophi- 



51 

cal apparatus. 2. A Principal and assistant Professors ia 
the different departments. 3. A school for children of 
different ages, embracing both those desiring a general 
education, and those designed particularly for teachers. 
4. A Board of Commissioners, or an enlightened body of 
men representing the interests and the wishes of the pub- 
lic.* 

1. A library should of course be selected with particular 
reference to the objects of the institution. It would natu- 
rally and necessarily, contain the approved authors on 
the science of education in its widest sense. It wouUl 
embrace works of acknowledged merit in the various 
branches of literature and science intimately connected 
with education ; such as anatomy and physiology, the phi- 
losophy of the human mind and heart, and the philosophy 
of language. 

Physical educationf forms a very essential part of the 
subject and should be thoroughly understood. This branch 
includes the development of all the organs of the body. 
And works upon the physiology of cliildren should be 
added to tiie library. Books on gymnastics, containing 
directions for particular exercises adapted to the develop- 
ment of the several organs, belong to the library of the ac- 
complished instructor as well as to that of the surgeon. 
Indeed, if the former properly use them, they will enable 
him to give a firmness to the parts of the body, which 
may, perhaps, supersede the necessity of the interference 
of the latter to set them right in manhood. 

The philosophy of the infant mind must be understood 
by the instructer, before much progress can be made in 
the science of education ; for a principal branch of the 
science consists in forming the mind. And the skill of 
the teacher in this department is chiefly to be seen in his 
judicious adaptation of means to the development of the 

* In clianging this institution, proi)osed two years ago, from a pub- 
lic to a private establishment, the aliove plan will i-er jitire some slight 
modifications. As soon as a suitable place can be .selected and the 
necessary arrangements be made for opening the seminary, a pros- 
pectus will be published stating its means and piu-poses more iu 
detail. 

f This topic had not when these essays were originally written 
excited so much attention as has since been paid to the subject, or it 
would, probably have been spoken of. here, more technically and at 

length. 



intellectual iaculties. Every book, therefore, which would 
aid in an analysis of the youthful mind should be plac- 
ed in the library of the proposed institution. 

The human heart, the philosophy of its passions and its 
affections must be studied by those who expect to influ- 
ence those passions and form those aftections. This branch 
of the subject includes the government of children, espe- 
cially in the earliest stages of their discipline. The success 
of the teacher here depends upon the good judgment with 
which he arranges and presents to his pupils the motives 
that will soonest move them, and most permanently in- 
fluence their actions. The mistaken or wicked princi- 
ples of parents and instructors, in this department of edu- 
cation, have, no doubt, perverted the dispositions of many 
hopeful children. If successful experience has been re- 
corded, it should be brought to the assistance of those, who 
must otherwise act without experience. 

Lastly, the study of the philosophy of language would be 
essential to the scientific teacher. The term, language, 
is not here understood to mean a class of words called 
Greek, or another class of words called Latin, or even that 
class of words which we call English. It means something 
more general, and something which can hardly be defined. 
It embraces all the means we use to excite in the minds of 
others the ideas, which we have already in our own minds. 
These, whatever they are, are included in the general defini- 
tion of language. This is a great desideratum in our systems 
of education. We do not possess a language by which we 
can produce precisely the idea in a pupil, which we have in 
our own mind and which we wish to excite in his. And 
impatient and precipitate teachers quite often quarrel with 
their pupils, because they do not arrive at the same con- 
clusions with themselves, when if they could but look into 
their minds, they would find, that the ideas with which 
they begin to reason, or which enter into their processes of 
reasoning, are altogether different. Every book or fact, 
therefore, which would do any thing to supply this deside- 
ratum, or enable the teacher better to understand precise- 
ly the idea which he excites in the mind of his pupils, 
should be collected in the instructor's library. 
2. The institution should have its Principal and its assistant 
Professors. The government and instruction of a semina- 
ry for the education of teachers would be among the most 



53 

responsible situations, which could be assigned to men in 
literary or scientific pursuits. As many of the objects of" 
the institution would be new, so the duties of its instruc- 
ters would also be new. No commanding minds have gone 
before precisely in the proposed course and struck out 
a path, which others may easily follow. There are no 
rules laid down for the direction of those, who will not 
think upon, or who cannot understand the subject. Men 
must, therefore, be brought to the task who have the abili- 
ty to observe accurately and to discriminate nicely. They 
nmst also collect the results of what experience they can 
from books and from others, in order to enable themselves 
to form some general principles for the direction of their 
pupils, who will go abroad to carry their improvements to 
others. It is not supposed for a moment that all, who may 
receive instruction at the proposed institution with the in- 
tention of becoming teachers, will necessarily be made 
thereby adepts in the science ; any more than it is believ- 
ed that all, who happen to reside four years within the 
walls of a college are necessarily made expert in the mys- 
teries of syllogisms and the calculus. But having seen 
correct general principles of education successfully reduced 
to practice, they may, at least, become artists in the 
profession, and be able to teach pretty well upon a system, 
the philosophy of which they cannot thoroughly compre- 
hend. 

3. A school of children and youth of different ages and 
pursuing different branches of study would form an essen- 
tial part of the institution. In the early stages of the ed- 
ucation of children, the discipline should consist almost 
wholly of such exercises as serve to develop the difiercnt 
faculties and strengthen all the powers of the mind. And 
in the subsequent education of youth, when the discipline 
comes to consist partly in the development of the mind, 
and partly in the communication of knowledge, the course 
of instruction would be the same, whether the pupil were 
destined to be a teacher or not. The objects of the insti- 
tution do not, therefore, become peculiar, till after the pu- 
pil has acquired a certain degree of freedom and strength 
of mind ; nor till after he has made the acquisition of 
the requisite amount of knowledge for the profession of 
teacher. Though a pupil would necessarily imbibe a good 
deal of clearness and method in his intellectual exercises. 



54 

,by submitting the direction of them to a skilful instrucici- ; 
the study of the science of teaching can not properly be- 
gin, till he changes relations with those about him ; and, in- 
stead of following a course prescribed by another, and ex- 
hibiting the powers of his own mind without an ctiort to 
take cognizance of them, he assumes to look down upon 
humbler minds, to direct their movements, and to detect 
and classify the phenomena of their subtle workings. 

After the young candidate for an instructor, therefore, 
has acquired sufficient knowledge for directing those ex- 
ercises and teaching those branches, which he wishes to 
profess, he must then begin his labours under the scrutiniz- 
ing eyes of one who will note his mistakes of government 
and faults of instruction and correct them. The experi- 
enced and skilful professor of the science will observe how 
the mind of the young teacher acts upon that of the learn- 
ner. He will see how far and how perfectly they under- 
stand each other, and which is at fault if they do not un- 
derstand each other at all. If the more inexperienced 
teacher should attempt to force upon the mind of a child 
an idea or a process of reasoning, for which it was not in 
a proper state, he would be checked, at once, and told of 
his fault ; and thus, perhaps, the pupil would be spared a 
disgust for a particular study or an aversion to all study. 
As our earliest experience would in this manner be under 
the direction of those wiser than ourselves, it would the 
more easily be classed under general principles for our 
direction afterwards. This part of the necessary course 
in an institution for the education of t'^achers might be 
much aided by lectures. Children exhibit such and such 
intellectual phenomena ; the scientific professor of educa- 
tion can explain those phenomena and tell from what they 
arise. If they are favourable, he can direct how they are 
to be encouraged and turned to account in the develop- 
ment and formation of the mind. If they are unfavour- 
able, he can explain by what means they are to be over- 
come or corrected. Seeing intellectual results he can 
trace them, even through complicated circumstances, to 
their causes ; or, knowing the causes and circumstances, he 
can predict the result that will follow them. Thus every 
day's experience would be carefully examined, and made 
to limit or extend the comprehension of the general prin- 
ciples of the science. Is there any other process or method 



55 

than this to arrive at a philosophical system of education? If 
any occurs to other minds, it is to be hoped that the ()ub- 
lic may soon have the benefit of it. 

4. The fourth branch, which I mentioned above as con- 
stituting an important part of an institution forthe education 
of teachers, was, a board of commissioners.* Although 
they would, probably, have but little to do with the mime- 
diate government and instruction of the institution, they 
would be valuable to it by representing the w^ishes of the 
community, and by bringing it more perfectly in contact 
with the public interests. Besides, it must occur to every 
one, that in the general management of such an establish- 
ment, many of the transactions would require characters 
and talents very different from those that would, generally, 
be found in the principal or professors. Men might easily, 
be found who would lecture to admiration, and yet be 
wholly incompetent to assume the general direction of the 
establishment. The professors, too, would always want 
assistance and authority in determining what acquisitions, 
should be required for admission into the institution, and 
what proficiency should be deemed essential in the can- 
didates before leaving it to assume the, business of teach- 
ing. Upon what principles shall the school be col- 
lected i' How shall the privilege of attending as new- 
learners in the science of education be settled upon appli- 
cations from difJerent parts cf the State or country ? These 
and many similar questions would render a body of men 
distinct from the professors important to the institution. 
Many decisions, too, must necessarily be made affecting 
individual and private interests. This would be an invidi- 
ous duty, and the instructors should be relieved from it, 
as far as possible. It is confidently believed, that the 
peculiar advantages to be enjoyed at such an institution 
by children and youth generally as well as by those designed 
for teachers, would command a price sufficient to defray 
nearly the whole expenses of the establishment. If not 
so, then might not each town send one or more young 
men to the institution to be properly educated for in- 
tructers, and require them in return to teach their public 

*In changing the plan of the institution from that of a public to u 
private seminary this part of it must of course be dropped ; and its 
connnunion with and adaptation to the' public interests be sustained 
Tty other means. 



56 

schools to liquidate the expense ? All these means, how- 
ever, are subjects for future consideration, and are to be 
devised, after the utility of the institution has been demon- 
strated. 

The peculiar advantages of an institution for the educa- 
tion of teachers would be far too numerous and too im- 
portant to be either embraced or enforced in the space, 
which remains for this topic. A few, therefore, of the 
most obvious ones are all, that can here be allured to. One 
advaiitage and a very certain one, would be to raise the 
character of teachers generally ; and consequently, in 
the same degree, the character of the schools, which they 
teach. Let us pause for a moment, to consider to what an 
extent we are interested in every thing, which affects our 
system of public instruction ; and hence derive a motive, 
before we pass on, to enforce attention to every suggestion 
for improvement in it. 

There were in the district of Massachusetts, according 
to the census of 1820, five hundred and twenty-three 
thousand one hundred and fifty-nine souls. Of this num- 
ber, two hundred and forty-one thousand seven hundred 
and eleven were under the age of eighteen years. The 
numbers have since been much augmented. If the popu- 
lation has increased only as fast since the last census, as it 
did between the census of 1810 and that of 1820, there 
are now, in round numbers, about two hundred and fifty 
thousand children and youth in Massachusetts, under the 
age of eighteen years. This it will be perceived, amounts 
to almost one half of the whole number of souls. If v.e 
take from the older, those between the ages of eighteen and 
twenty-one, and add them to the younger part of the popu- 
lation, we shall find at least half, and probably more than 
half of the whole, under twenty-one years. 

These are all flexible subjects of education, in its most 
comprehensive sense ; though they are not all within the 
influence of that part of it, which can be easily controlled 
by legislation, or indeed by any means except by an en- 
lightened public opinion. A few of this great number 
have left the schools and all direct means of education, 
and entered upon the active business of life. And a portion 
of the younger part of them are yet subjects only for do- 
mestic education. But after these deductions from the 
two extremes, it will not be extravagant to state, that one 



bt 

third of the whole population are of a suitable age, have 
opportunity, and do actually attend school some portion of 
the year. In Massachusetts, we have not the means of 
knowing, accurately, the numbers of children and youth, 
who attend our schools ; because we have no system of 
returns to any [)ublic authority, by which such facts can be 
ascertained.* But I am confirmed in the belief, that the 
above is not an extravagant estimate, by two circumstan- 
ces. One of them is, several towns have been carefully 
examined, and this is about the proportion of the popula- 
tion found in their schools. And the other is, official do- 
cuments and acknowledged authorities from the neigh- 
bouring state of Connecticut, inform us, that one third of 
the population attend their free schools a part of the year. 
And probably the same would be found to be true of New 
York as well as of the remainder of the New England 
states. 

These are statistical facts. Others may reason upon 
them and draw what conclusions they can, about emigra- 
tion, the future prospects of New England, her comparative 
influence in the Union, and the facilities she aftords for a 
manufacturing district. They have been introduced, here, 
because they suggest motives stronger than any others, to 
enforce attention to our means of popular education. One 
third of our whole population are now at that period of 
life, when their principles and characters are rapidly form- 
ing. Habits, both moral and intellectual, are taking 
their direction and acciuiring the strength of age. In all 
this, the schools must have a deep influence. Both the 
degree and the kind of influence arc, to a certain extent, 
within our control and consequently depend upon our ef- 
forts. In twenty years, and surely twenty years are not 

* An act passed the Iesri:^latiire, last March, requiring returus to be 
made to the Secretary of State, from the School Cominittees of the 
several towns touching tlie number of free and private schools, the 
amount of money expended upon them, the number and ages of the 
pupils attending them, and some other particulars. In partial obedi- 
ence to this law, returns, many of them loose and impertect, have 
been made from 127 towns oidy ; an abstract of which has been as 
carefully and intelligibly prepared by the Secretary of State, as the 
nature of the materials would admit, and published by order of the 
General Court. When these returns are made accurate and com- 
plete from every town in the Commonwealth, they will enable the 
public to acquire a more thorough knowledge of the subject and 
consequently to act upon it with greater energy and precision. 
8 



58 

beyond the ken of a tolerably clear-sighted politician, this 
part of our population will succeed to most of the respon- 
sible places and relations of their fathers. They must 
receive all that we have to leave for them. They must 
take our names and attach to them honour or infamy. 
They must possess our fortunes to preserve or disperse 
them. And they must inherit our free institutions to im- 
prove, pervert, or destroy them. Here then, are the 
strongest political motives as well as paternal affection urg- 
ing upon us attention to all the means of forming, ^correct- 
ly, the characters of those, who are to receive from us our 
choicest blessings. And what means within our control 
can be devised more efficient for this purpose, tiian those 
primary seminaries for instruction, where the mass of the 
people must receive several years of their education. 
Find, if they are to be found, or create, if they are not now 
to be found, a class of teachers well skilled in their profession, 
and put them into all our free schools. What an effect 
would soon be produced in their condition ! And what a 
renovating influence these same schools would soon have 
upon the character of the whole people, who have access 
to them. 

But these are general advantages of a good class of 
teachers. I promised to speak of the peculiar advantages 
of the proposed institution to produce them. The library 
collected with particular reference to the objects of the in- 
stitution, would contain the facts of the science of educa- 
tion scattered along in the history of the world. Facts 
are the materials of philosophy. x\nd we cannot philoso- 
phize, safely, till we have an extensive stock before us. 
The library would naturally collect, not only those phe- 
nomena relating to the subject, which have already 
been observed ; but also the records of those, which must 
be daily passing before our eyes. Books connected with 
and collateral to the science will be as important to the 
purposes of the institution as those professedly written up- 
on the subject. And frequently they will be found to be 
much more so. Because the former contain the facts and 
the phenomena, while the latter have only an author's rea- 
soning and conclusions upon them. And the authors, who 
have written upon education, with very few exceptions, 
have reasoned speciously, but from very limited and im- 
perfect inductions. So that their conclusions, though they 
may be correct, as far as they had the necessary means of 



39 

making them so, are liable to fail, totally, when reduced to 
practice under circumstances a little different from those 
from which the principles have been formed. We want more 
experience before we begin to reason at large and to draw 
sweeping conclusions on the subject. And our library 
would be chiefly valuable, as containing that experience 
or the results of it accurately and authentically recorded. 

But the conclusions of writers on the subject, though 
received and repeated by every body, are not binding and 
beyond question, till we know, that the facts from which 
they reasoned, are all which can affect the principles that 
they deduce from them. And to believe, that the experi- 
ence of two thousand years, embracing the present age, 
which is so full of phenomena of all kinds, has not added 
something to our means of a copious and safe induction to 
principles of education, requires a stretch of credulity, with 
which my mind is not gifted. It will be safer as a general 
rule to assume, that they teach us what to avoid, rather 
than what to imitate. 

When we have collected the means of reasoning correct- 
ly, which books can afford, and added to them the living 
materials of philosophy, which will be constantly exhibited 
in the school, which is to form a part of the institution, we 
are to place all these before instructors of discriminating 
minds, who are able and willing to observe as well as to 
reason. We are then to turn the public attention towards 
them in good earnest, and let them see that something is 
expected from them. There is a moral certainty, under 
such circumstances, that the expectation will be gratified. 
When the public attention is turned towards any subject, 
all the ardent and discriminating minds act in concert. 
And like the rays of the sun converged to a point by a lens, 
they act with an intensity, which must produce an effect. 

It would be a natural result of the proposed institution, to 
organize the teachers into a more distinct profession, and to 
raise the general standard of their intellectual attainments. 
It would therefore concentrate anrl give energy and direc- 
tion to exertions and inquiries, whicii are now compara- 
tively wasted for want of such direction. No one, indeed, 
can now foresee, precisely, what effect would be produced 
upon our systems of education and principles of instruc- 
tion, by subjecting them to such an ordeal. To foretel 
the improvements that would be made, would be to make 
them, and supersede the necessity of an institution for the 



purpose. Though the necessity would still remain for 
some similar means to propagate them among the people. 
But if our principles of education, and particularly our 
principles of government and instruction, are not already 
perfect, we may, confidently, expect improvements ; though 
we may not know, precisely, in what they will consist. 
* Many persons knew twenty years ago, that steam was 
expansive. But who foresaw the degree, to which its ex- 
pansion could be raised, or the purposes to which it could 
be applied ? Public attention was turned to the subject in 
earnest, and we now see vessels moving in every direction 
by its power. It was known long since, that light wood 
would tloat, and water run down hill. But who foresaw, 
twenty years ago, the present state of our internal im- 
provement by means of canals .^ Public attention and 
powerful minds were directed to the subject, and we now 
see boats ascending and descending our mountains and 
traversing our continent in every direction. Those, who 
were before almost our antipodes, have now, by the facili- 
ties of communication, become our neighbours. The most 
intrepid prophet would hardly have dared, even ten years 
ago, to predict the present state of our manufactories. 
This has all been done, because it could be done, and 
many minds were turned to the subject and resolved, that 
it should be done. All these are in many respects anala- 
gous cases, and go to show that we do not always know- 
how near to us important improvements are ; and that it is" 
only necessary to direct the public attention to a subject 
in order to ensure some inventions in it. 

A great variety of other peculiar advantages to the pub-, , 
lie, it occurs to me, must arise from an institution for the 
education of teachers. But I have confined myself to 
those only, which seemed to be the most striking and im- 
portant. All others will be found to be involved, in a great 
degree or wholly, in those which I have stated. And al- 
though to enumerate them might add some new motives 
for attention to the subject ; they could not strengthen 
much the argument in favour of an institution somewhat 
like that, which has been above described. 1 must now 
take my leave of the subject for the present ; my only 
regrets being, that I have not had ability to do more jus- 
tice to the several topics which I have discussed, nor time 
to do more justice to my own views of them. 



L'£ da i 



